Is This Patient Malnourished?

In our physical exam rounds today, we examined a patient for signs of malnutrition, and reviewed the JAMA RCE article on the topic.

The gist of the articles is to know the “Subjective Global Assessment” which includes the following:
•History (Weight change,Dietary intake change,GI symptoms,Functional capacity)
•Physical exam (Loss of subcutaneous fat, Muscle wasting, Edema)

Based the above, you can categorize patients into “well-nourished”, “moderately malnourished”, or “severely malnourished”. These categories then correlate with patient likelihood of being admitted, and post-operative complications.

Here is the article.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/pubmed?term=is%20this%20patient%20malnourished%20detsky%20JAMA

* Given our topic of conversation, I like to remind everyone of the famine in East Africa. A devastating drought and crumbling infrastructure have created one of the worst hunger emergencies in our generation. If you would like to make a donation, the Government of Canada has created the East Africa Drought Relief Fund, and will match your donations.