Nutritional status and evaluation of the perioperative fasting time among patients submitted to elective and emergency surgeries at a reference hospital.

ABSTRACT Objective: to evaluate the clinical, surgical, and nutritional profile of surgical patients admitted to a reference hospital in Recife city, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Methods: a cross-sectional study carried out in the wards of the General Surgery Service of Hospital da Restauração Governador Paulo Guerra, from June to September 2018. We included adult and elderly patients (both genders) who were submitted to thoracoabdominal procedures and elective or emergency abdominal surgeries, and in which the assessment of nutritional status could be performed within 72 hours of hospital admission. Data on nutritional status and surgical procedures, as well as clinical and biochemical information, were collected. Results: we studied 140 patients with median age of 45 years. Among all, 59.3% were female and 23% malnourished, according to Subjective Global Assessment. The median preoperative fasting time was 15 hours for size I surgeries and 13.5 hours for size II ones. Longer postoperative hospital stay showed a strong correlation with the total length of hospital stay in both surgical sizes. Malnourished patients had a longer period of perioperative fasting and hospital stay when compared to well-nourished patients (p<0.001). Conclusion: the perioperative fasting time for elective surgeries was longer than recommended by literature. Patients with longer fasting spent more time in hospital.