Weight Change During Hospitalization in a Tertiary Cardiological Center in Sri Lanka

Malnutrition is common in hospitalized patients and many undergo further deterioration of the nutritional level during the stay at the hospital. Patients who are malnourished on admission have a tendency to further depletion of nutrition level during the hospital stay. The aim of this study was to assess the weight changes of hospitalized patients during the hospital admission. Body weight was measured on admission and discharge for two hundred and ninety four patients in a cardiology hospital. Body mass index (BMI) cut offs were used to categorized patients to underweight (BMI<18.5kg.m-2), normal (18.5-22.9kg.m-2), overweight (23.0-24.9kg.m-2), obese (25.0-29.9kg.m-2) and very obese. Study population included 190 (64.4%) males and 105 (35.6%) females. One hundred and twenty eight (43.4%) patients lost their weight, while 131 (44.4%) and 36 (12.2%) patients had gained and had no change in their weight respectively. Of the patients who had their BMI in the underweight category (26, 8.81%), most (15, 57.7%) gained their weight. In the normal BMI range (112, 37.97%) majority (51, 45.5%) gained their weight. In the category of overweight (64, 21.69%), half of the patients (32, 50.0%) lost their weight. Forty three patients (46.23%) who were in the obese or very obese category (93, 31.53%) lost their weight. Weight changes withi