Our findings do not support the observation that patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis have hyperlipidemia or that hyperlipidemia in this population is related to longer survival. However, some evidence emerged that respiratory impairment, but not a worse clinical status or a lower body mass index, is related to a decrease in blood lipids and LDL/HDL ratio.

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In cancer patients, HPN can be safely carried out with a low incidence of complications. Also, VADs are not equal in terms of complication rates, and strict adherence to meticulous insertion policies may effectively reduce catheter-related complications.

The study showed activation of TNF-α axis and oxidative stress in AN patients, as well as correlation between the two systems. Due to the correlation between TNF receptors and both BMI and disease duration, a possible role of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the evolution of the eating disorder is suggested.

*See the end of the text for the complete list of affiliations Overall prevalence of malnutrition was 30.7%, with higher rates in the northern macroarea (36.7%) than in central (28.0%), southern (26.9%) and island (16.7%) ones (p < 0.0001). This discrepancy appeared to be mainly related to the prevalence of overweight/obesity. By a multivariate model, malnutrition was significantly lower in males (p < 0.05) and surgical wards (p < 0.002), associated with geography (p < 0.05) and consistently higher in patients aged ≥65 years (p < 0.01), presenting with malignancies (p < 0.005) and having multidrug therapy (p < 0.05). The prevalence of hospital malnutrition is high also in Italy. It presents with different geographical distribution also according to overweight prevalence. This evidence should be considered when designing national nutritional policies.

Background/Objectives: Disease-related malnutrition is a common comorbidity at hospital admission. The purpose of the present report was to describe the data on nutritional care routines collected during the Project: Iatrogenic MAlnutrition in Italy (PIMAI) study, as these may be helpful to avoid iatrogenic malnutrition and improve nutritional policies. Subjects/Methods: Standards of nutritional care were assessed on the basis of (1) adherence to study protocol (completeness of data collected); (2) attitude in assessing the nutritional status; (3) prescription of nutritional therapy (within 3 days) at least in patients presenting with overt malnutrition (body mass index (BMI) o18.5 kg/m 2 or significant weight loss (X10% in 3 months and/or X5% in the last month)), regardless of its adequacy, and adherence to current guidelines and (4) attitude in monitoring nutritional status during the stay (number of weight measurements performed compared with those expected). Results: In total, 1583 subjects were assessed. A minimum data set for performing the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 tool was available in 1284 patients (81.1%), but nutritional screening was possible in every patient by alternative analytical criteria related to food intake, anthropometry and biochemistry. However, several missing values were recorded, particularly in biochemical parameters due to lack of prescription by admission wards. According to ward practices, only 38.2% of the patients had the BMI calculated. A nutritional support was prescribed only to 26/191 patients (13.6%) presenting with overt malnutrition. Finally, we recorded that only 21.6% of the patients (207/960 were randomly selected) had their weight monitored on a scheduled basis. This reality was worse in surgical rather than medical departments (17 vs 26%; Po0.001). Conclusion: Present results confirm that in Italy, nutritional care routines are still poor and need improvements.

Background & aims: Nutritional risk on admission to hospital, which turns out to be high in most countries, was investigated. However, when consulting the "malnutrition-mapping" in Europe, the lack of Italian data raises attention. Accordingly, we designed a multidisciplinary, cross-sectional survey: the PIMAI study (Project: Iatrogenic MAlnutrition in Italy). Methods: Patients were enrolled from 13 large (>400 beds) multidisciplinary hospitals. Randomly selected adult (>18-year-old) patients were included according to a 4-strata model by gender and age (<65 and ≥65 years). Nutritional risk was assessed by the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 tool. Results: A total of 1284 patients were evaluated. Overall prevalence of nutritional risk was 28.6% with similar distribution between sexes and higher rates in medical rather than in surgical departments (33.6% vs 22.8%; p < 0.0001). Risk prevalence was markedly heterogeneous among specialties, ranging between 4.8% (ophthalmology) and 62.5% (oncology units). Moreover, in adults aged 18-65 years the prevalence of "risk of malnutrition" was significantly lower than in those ≥65 years (18.3% vs 41.9%; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The prevalence of nutritional risk on admission to hospital is high also in Italy. However, in patients aged 18-65 years nutritional risk appears a less prevalent comorbidity, thus supporting the role of age as an important determinant. © 2009 European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism