Abstract

Author(s): Audrey Machado dos Reis, MS1,3; Herventon Dias Moraes, MS2,3

Background: Home care services help the people to cope at home and support individual life. The nutritional assistance is part of routine. A poor nutritional risk status is associated with negative clinical outcomes as death.

Aims: To identify the prediction of mortality of nutritional parameters and; to analyze the mortality risk through the significant parameter, and to demonstrate survival rate of home care patients.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed with a sample of home care patients implanted to the Hospitalar ATS® Company, RS, Brazil. Univariate analysis was done according survivors and non-survivors patients. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to calculate risk relative adjusted for age and sex. The survival curve was generated by Kaplan-meier analysis.

Results: 58 patients were included. Patient’s age, elderly age and length of home care were significant differences between survivors and non-survivors (p<0.05). In addition, there were also significant difference between groups in relation to BMI (p=0.023) and BMI <18.5 kg/m² (p=0.002). The patients classified at low weight assessed by BMI presented almost 3 times of risk to mortality (p=0.014). The 50% probability of death in low weight patients occurs within 500 days of follow-up. Patients with BMI ≥18.5 kg/m² had 90% survival was after 300 days of follow-up.

Conclusions: Nutritional assessment and screening is essential for patients with home care services. In addition, low weight can provides a higher risk of mortality in this population.