Characteristics of dietary intake among adult patients in hospitals in a lower middle‐income country in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Aim Low‐dietary intake is a common problem and cause of malnutrition during hospitalisation. This study aims to determine the current dietary intake and food sources of hospitalised adults in Ho Chi Minh City. Methods Participants were adult patients from six general public hospitals in a multi‐site survey undertaken in 2016. Dietary intakes for all foods consumed in the previous day were collected via interview using the 24 hours recall method. Nutritional status was assessed using Subjective Global Assessment or BMI. Results Data were collected from 887 participants. Most food consumed in hospital was from non‐regulated foodservices. Food was self‐provided and home‐cooked (27.7%), bought from outside the hospital (13.6%), from the hospital canteen (16.8%) or a combination of these (39.4%). Only 1.3% of food was provided by the hospital. Energy intakes were very low with a median of 3550 kJ/day; and only 4.2% of participants met 100% of their energy requirements. Decreased appetite, fullness or restrictions due to medical indications were the most common reasons for low‐dietary intake. Malnourished participants were 2.2 times more likely to have low‐dietary intake compared to well‐nourished participants. Conclusions Non‐regulated foodservices in hospital were not able to meet the dietary requirements of patients leading to hospital malnutrition. Standardisation of food from on‐site canteens, covering meal costs from universal medical insurance, and developing guides for food provisioning for patients’ families are potential solutions to improve patient nutritional status.

Prevalence of malnutrition risk and poor food intake in older adults in Indian hospitals: A prospective observational nutritionDay study with novel mapping of malnutrition risk to the Malnutrition Screening Tool

“…Participation in nutritionDay was voluntary and it is possible participants who were more vulnerable, very ill or with dementia were unwilling to participate and therefore it is likely this study has potentially underestimated malnutrition risk and poor food intake. In addition, hospital food service, meal delivery and food from non‐regulated foodservices, 32 may have impacted participants' intake. The participants in this study were admitted in urban and private hospitals therefore findings have limited generalisability in older adults from different socioeconomic status backgrounds across India.…”

Hospital nutrition: dietary intake characteristics among adults with NCDs (Algeria, 2020)

“…of their requirements in high-income countries such as Australia (30%) and Switzerland (30%), and much higher in comparison with the percentage of hospitalized adults meeting 100% of their requirements in low-income countries like Viet-Nam (4.2%) 26 . According to Fernandez et al, the energy and protein intakes were 5,088 kJ (1,216 kcal) on admission and 5,058 kJ (1,209 kcal) on the 7 th day of hospitalization and 51.6 g of proteins on admission and 51.8 g on the 7 th day 32 versus 4,805 kJ/day (1,145 kcal/day) and 47.60 g of protein in this study.…”

“…Some studies use the health authorities' recommendations in the concerned country. Others use formulae predicting the rest energy expenditure (REE) and the total energy expenditure (TEE) [26][27][28][29] .…”

Microbial inspection of a Vietnamese hospital kitchen with reference to a Japanese hospital kitchen

“…In most Vietnamese hospitals, meals are provided not only to inpatients, but also to their families, visitors, hospital staff, etc . In addition, inpatients often consumed meals prepared by their families, or restaurants that were external to the hospital, with reports that most food consumed in hospital was self‐provided and home‐cooked (27.7%), bought from outside the hospital (13.6%), from the hospital canteen (16.8%), or a combination of these (39.4%) (Tran et al, 2019). Therefore, it is likely that emphasizing the importance of food safety for all inpatients to Vietnamese hospital cooking staff may be difficult, as food is so often brought in from the outside.…”

“…For example, 90% of inpatients at the central hospital in Ho Chi Minh City reported receiving hospital meals under nutritional management (VnExpress, 2019). In contrast, Tran, Banks, Do, Gallegos, and Hannan‐Jones (2019) reported that a very low percentage of food (1.3%) is provided by the hospital nutrition departments in first to third level‐hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City. Meals that are not regulated by the nutritional management may lack the minimum nutritional requirements necessary for adequate medical care and furthermore, may not adhere to appropriate hygiene and food safety standards.…”