Nutritional status of adult Orthopaedic trauma patients scheduled for surgery at Mulago national referral hospital.

Abstract

Background: Trauma and malnutrition both represent major public health problems. Increased motorization and road network coverage has resulted in a disproportionate rise in the trauma burden and subsequent hospitalization due to trauma. As trauma care improves with expansion of admissions and surgical capacity, hospital malnutrition is on the rise hence understanding the link between malnutrition and trauma becomes crucial. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of malnutrition and factors associated with it among adult orthopaedic trauma patients scheduled for definitive surgery at Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH) Kampala Uganda. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study, at MNRH Orthopaedic wards using interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaires for participants’ background characteristics, anthropometric measures for; weight, height, and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and Body Mass Index (BMI).The serum albumin levels was also determined among study participants between April and August 2023. Participants were conveniently sampled until the sample size was reached. Descriptive analyses of the data, bivariate and multivariate regression were conducted to explore the participants’ nutritional status and the factors associated with it. Data analysis was performed using Stata 17. Results: A total of 372 participants were recruited and the prevalence of malnutrition was found to be 26.49%. The participants constituted 87.6% males and 12.4% females. The age distribution clusters were as follows 43.2% between 18-33, 35.4% between 34-48 range, while 13.5% fell between 46-63 range and lastly 7.8% were aged 64 plus years. The mean MUAC was 25.8 and standard deviation (SD) of +/-3.0, mean albumin at 3.7g/dl with SD of +/- 0.8, mean weight 65.0 kg and SD of +/- 4.56, mean height of 1.216m and SD of +/- 0.54, mean BMI at 21.1 and SD of +/-3.1.By specifics ;6.5% had low MUAC,47.8% had low albumin and 22.4% had low BMI. Factors associated with nutritional status of the adult orthopaedic trauma patients in MNRH were educational level, economic status and cause of injury. Conclusion: Malnutrition is common among adult orthopaedic trauma patients scheduled for surgery at MNRH at 26.49%.The education level, injury cause and monthly income are associated factors. Utility of the study: Gave a sneak peak in to the burden of malnutrition among adult orthopeadic trauma patients scheduled for surgery at MNRH