Análisis del estado nutricional en pacientes adultos mayores hospitalizados por COVID-19 en unidades de cuidados intensivos, Perú, 2020

Background: Nutritional status is an indicator of health status and an element of the body s resistance to intercurrent diseases, including COVID-19. Objective: To analyze the nutritional status in hospitalized older adult ICU patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a National Hospital in Metropolitan Lima during the months of April and May 2020. The nutritional status of a group of 83 older adult patients with COVID-19 was determined and compared. The data were analyzed using Chi-square and t-student tests, considering a significance level of 5%. Results: Approximately 42.2% of the patients had excess body weight. Anemia (46.9% vs. 9.8%, p 0.001) and risk of sarcopenia (45.7% vs. 33.3%, p = 0.011) were higher in women compared to men presenting COVID-19. Furthermore, urea levels were significantly lower in patients with malnutrition compared to those without malnutrition (37.9 mg/dL vs. 44.1 mg/dL, p = 0.020). Similarly, leukocyte concentration was found to be lower in COVID-19 patients with malnutrition 9.6 WBC (x10g ^g/L), p = 0.002. Finally, c-reactive protein (CRP) (37.9 mg/L, p = 0.015), oxaloacetic transaminase (OGT) (61.08 U/L, p = 0.045) and pyruvic transaminase (PGR) (37.14 U/L, p = 0.030) levels were significantly higher in patients with malnutrition compared to those without malnutrition. Conclusion: Nutritional status has a considerable effect on the clinical outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Therefore, further nutritional interventions should be implemented in this regard, paying special attention to both the elderly population.