Abstract

Objective: Today, the prevalence of respiratory system diseases is increasing day by day. Malnutrition is an important complication seen in respiratory system diseases and it is very important to screen individuals with respiratory system diseases in terms of malnutrition risk. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate risk of malnutrition in individuals aged 19-64 with certain respiratory system diseases.

Material and Methods: The research was carried out between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020 and was completed with 137 individuals aged 19-64 with some respiratory system diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/COPD, lung cancer, pneumonia). Demographic information of individuals was obtained by face-to-face interview technique. Individuals were evaluated with the Nutritional Risk Score (NRS-2002) screening tool in terms of malnutrition risk, and individuals with an NRS-2002 score of ≥3 were considered to be at risk for malnutrition. In the analysis of the data, p<0.05 was accepted as statistically significant.

Results: Of the participants, 105 (76.6%) were male and 32 (23.4%) were female, with a mean age of 54.18±11.26 years. The mean BMI of the individuals was 23.12±5.40 kg/m2, the mean NRS-2002 score was 3.14±1.15, and it was concluded that 70.8% of them were at risk for malnutrition. NRS-2002 mean score was ≥3 in 86.2% of pneumonia patients, 55.0% of patients with lung cancer, and 66.7% of COPD patients. It was concluded that mean NRS-2002 score of individuals with pneumonia was statistically significantly higher compared to individuals with lung cancer (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Although individuals with respiratory system disease have a high risk of malnutrition, the presence of malnutrition significantly increases risk of mortality. For this reason, it is very important for prognosis of the disease to screen individuals with respiratory system diseases in terms of malnutrition risk, and to start nutritional support as early as possible when necessary.

Keywords: Malnutrition, respiratory system, NRS-2002