Full Title: Impact of hospitalization on nutritional status and the risk of dysphagia in individuals aged 65 and over. Multicenter study “NUTRIFAG”

Funded by: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI21/00738)

Grant awarded: €57,475.00

Duration: 3 years (01/01/2022-31/12/2024)

Principal Investigator: María Isabel Orts Cortés

Associated Researchers: From SESCS (Ana Mª Pascual, Himar González Pacheco)

Objectives

Analyze the evolution of nutritional status and dysphagia in patients aged 65 and over in the medical and surgical hospitalization units of the included public hospitals.

Project Methodology

Prospective observational study. Participants will be patients over 65 years old admitted to medical and surgical units of 9 hospitals located in Andalusia, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia Community, Canary Islands, Murcia, and Navarre. Participants will be selected through consecutive sampling. The total number of patients to be included will be 4,077 (453 in each hospital). Variables are organized into 7 groups: related to hospitalization, functionality, cognition, and comorbidity; risk profile; nutrition; dysphagia; frailty; and food quality. The following instruments will be used: Barthel Index, Pfeiffer Test, Braden Scale, MUST Scale, EAT-10 Questionnaire, volume-viscosity method, and Frail Test, as well as indicators of food quality satisfaction. Other complementary instruments will be employed to collect the most relevant sociodemographic and clinical data. Descriptive univariate and bivariate analysis of the sample will be performed through absolute and relative frequencies. For bivariate analysis between qualitative variables, the Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test will be used. For studies of association between variables of interest adjusted for other covariates, multivariate logistic regression models will be constructed. These tests will use bilateral contrasts at a significance level of p<0.05. The principles established in the Declaration of Helsinki will be observed, and Spanish legislation on biomedical research and personal data protection will be complied with. Approval from the CEIm and the pilot project of several of the study hospitals has been obtained.

Contact Person: María Isabel Orts Cortés