Introduction: Oncohematological diseases are associated with an important prevalence of malnutrition.
Aim: Our aim is to determine if early recognition and treatment of malnourished hematological inpatients can improve their oral intake, nutritional status and reduce the length of hospital stay.
Methods: Prospective 2-year study conducted in a cohort of hematology inpatients. Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) was carried out on the first day of admission. Patients with a positive screening were recruited to have a complete nutritional evaluation and intervention, following usual clinical practice. Nutritional evaluation was repeated after one week.
Results: Six hundred and seventeen hematological patients were screened (37.8% with positive screening). After one week, median diet intake increased from 80% to 90% (p < 0.001), and an increase of 407.36 Kcal (SD 679.37) and 17.58 g of protein (SD 31.97) was also achieved. More patients reached their energy and protein requirements (41.6 vs.% 63.3%, p = 0.009) and nutritional parameters remained stable. A trend to a lower stay (3.5 to 4.5 days less) was detected in the groups of patients who covered their needs.
Conclusions: The implementation of early malnutrition screening and short nutritional interventions improved energy and protein intake, increasing the percentage of patients who meet their requirements and avoiding deterioration of nutritional status.
Keywords: Malnutrition. Nutrition assessment. Nutritional status. Hematological neoplasms. Energy intake..