ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1435429
This article is part of the Research TopicDietary Patterns and Oxidative Stress: Implications for Obesity, T2D, and Cancer ManagementView all 7 articles
Fraity and GLIM-defined malnutrition contribute to poor clinical outcomes in older adult inpatients in the general surgery department
Provisionally accepted
- National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China
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Background & aims: Frailty and malnutrition are prevalent among older adult inpatients. Our study aimed to analyze the correlation between frailty and malnutrition, and determine their effects on the clinical outcomes in older adult surgical inpatients. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study included older adult (≥ 65 years old) inpatients undergoing scheduled surgery. Anthropometric measurements and hematological examination results were collected at the time of admission. Frailty and malnutrition were assessed using the frailty phenotype and the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria. Nutritional support during hospitalization and clinical outcomes, such as the occurrence of postoperative complications, in-hospital death, length of hospital stays, and hospital costs were recorded. Chi-square test and rank-sum tests were used for comparison. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to calculate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for frailty, malnutrition, and postoperative complications. Results: In 394 patients, the frailty prevalence was 17.3% (68/394) and 146 inpatients (37.1%) were malnourished. The overlapping prevalence rate of frailty and malnutrition was 12.2% (48/394). Frailty and malnutrition were correlated (r = 0.464, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that frailty significantly increased the risk of postoperative complications (OR: 2.937, 95% CI: 1.475-5.850, P = 0.002). There were significant differences in the length of hospital stays and hospital costs among the four groups of patients with frailty and malnutrition, frailty and no malnutrition, malnutrition and no frailty, and no frailty and malnutrition (P < 0.001; P < 0.001). Conclusions: A significant positive correlation was observed between frailty and malnutrition. Frailty and malnutrition are significantly associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Therefore, it is necessary to manage frailty and malnutrition to improve the prognosis.
Keywords: Frailty, Malnutrition, Aged, General Surgery, clinical outcome
Received: 20 May 2024; Accepted: 06 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Chen, Liu, Li, Cheng, Xu, Cui and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mingwei Zhu, National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China
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