Evaluation of Malnutrition Risk with Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Malnutrition can lead to morbidity and mortalityin Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Malnutrition screening tool (MUST) is a simple and easy-to-apply screening questionnaire developed for outpatiets. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of malnutrition risk with MUST in IBD patients. Method: Between 01 April 2016 and 01 April 2017, patients diagnosed with IBD in outpatient and inpatient clinics of Gastroenterology were screened for malnutrition risk with MUST. Patients with a MUST score of ≥2 were concluded as high-risk for malnutrition. Results: A total of 216 IBD patients enrolled in this study. The study included a total of 177 (81.9%) patients from outpatient polyclinic and 39 (18.1%) from inpatient clinic. Risk of malnutrition was identified in 24.1% of patients according to MUST. Number of hospitalized patients with malnutrition rsik was significantly higher than the outpatient ones (71.7% vs. 13.5%, p