Buletin Farmatera
Vol 8, No 1 (2023)

Malnutrition Screening Is Better Than Body Mass Index for Predicting COVID-19 Severity

Fitri Nur Malini Siregar (Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara)
Asri Ludin Tambunan (Department of Internal Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara, Indonesia)
Eka Febriyanti (Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
28 Feb 2023

Abstract

Abstract: Several factors can influence the severity of COVID-19, including nutritional status and malnutrition conditions. This study compares malnutrition screening methods with body mass index to find better predictors of COVID-19 severity. This study is a cross-sectional analysis of medical records from all adult COVID-19 patients (total sampling) treated at Amri Tambunan Deli Serdang Hospital. The World Health Organization criteria were used to determine the severity of COVID-19. A Global Subjective Assessment (SGA) questionnaire was used to screen for malnutrition, while anthropometric measurements (Kg/m2) were used to calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI). The Chi-Square Test was used for statistical analysis. This study included 508 COVID-19 hospitalisation patients, the majority of whom were women (55.5%), aged 18-29 years (25%) and had moderate severity (89.6%). The seriousness of COVID-19 was associated with malnutrition conditions as measured by the SGA questionnaire (p0.001), with patients with moderate to severe malnutrition being 3.4 times more likely to develop robust and critical COVID-19 (95% CI 1.6 - 7.0). There is no significant relationship between Body Mass Index and the severity of COVID-19 (p0.05). Malnutrition screening with SGA is more accurate than BMI in predicting the severity of COVID-19. Keywords:   IMT, a predictor of COVID-19 severity degree, malnutrition screening 

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