[Malnutrition at an internal medicine service: impact of patients coming from homes for the elderly].

OBJECTIVES: To compare nutritional state of patients referred from nursing homes (NH) and patients coming from their own home. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Several variables were recorded from patients being admitted to an internal medicine ward for a month. Sixty-six patients were included (36 women and 30 men). The mean age of studied patients was 75.7 +/- 14.4 years. RESULTS: Patients referred from NH had a tricipital skin fold (11.7 +/- 7.5 mm) thinner than patients coming from their home (14.4 +/- 6.5 mm, p = 0.08). Plasma albumin levels were lower in patients with advanced cancer (3 +/- 0.6 g/dl) than in remainder patients (3.2 +/- 0.6 g/dl, p > 0.05). Patients being fed by nasogastric tube had lower plasma levels (2.6 +/- 0.5) than any other patients (3.3 +/- 0.6, p = 0.03). In patients coming from their own home, febrile diseases were associated with a thinner tricipital skin fold and lower plasmatic albumin. CONCLUSIONS: Patients referred from NH and patients being fed by nasogastric tube presented a deficient protein-energy nutritional state. Febrile diseases were associated with a deficient nutritional state in patients coming from their own home.