What Does Malnutrition Cost Us

According to a study on hospital cost, malnutrition has been identified as a critical and costly problem in many countries.

Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed on data from the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force prospective cohort study combined with administrative data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. The study aimed to determine the relationship between malnutrition and hospital costs, as well as the influence of confounders and drivers of this relationship.

Results:

Even moderately malnourished patients', 34% of patients, had hospital stays 18% longer on average than well-nourished patients.

Costs were, on average, between 31% and 34% higher than for well-nourished patients with similar characteristics.

Severely malnourished patients, 11% of patients, stayed 34% longer and had 38% higher total costs than well-nourished patients. They stayed 53% longer in medical beds and had 55% higher medical costs, on average.

Trends were similar no matter the type of costing data used.

Link to the study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27765524/

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