New ESPEN Guidelines: How to prevent malnutrition in COVID-19 patients [18.07.20]
The current COVID-19 pandemic is putting healthcare systems worldwide to the test and continues to claim countless lives. Especially elderly and immuno-compromised patients can fall seriously ill and eventually die due to the respiratory infection. People of these high-risk groups are also particularly susceptible to malnutrition, which in turn can worsen the prospects of corona infection. Standardized screenings and well-planned nutritional management in hospitals could mitigate the progression of corona patients' disease, increase their chances of recovery and ultimately reduce the burden on the healthcare system. In a new guide, the European Society for Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) evaluates the importance of nutritional therapy for intensive care COVID-19 patients. The guide also contains 10 practical recommendations for nutritional management in intensive care units in the context of the Corona Pandemic.
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Publication
Barazzoni, R., Bischoff, S.C., Breda, J., Wickramasinghe, K., Krznaric, Z., Nitzan, D., Pirlich, M., Singer, P., 2020. ESPEN-Expertenerklärungen und praktischer Leitfaden für das Ernährungsmanagement von Patienten mit SARS-CoV-2-Infektion. Aktuelle Ernährungsmedizin 45, 182–192. doi.org/10.1055/a-1179-9594
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemics is posing unprecedented challenges and threats to patients and healthcare systems worldwide. Acute respiratory complications that require intensive care unit (ICU) management are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Patients with worst outcomes and higher mortality are reported to include immunocompromised subjects, namely older adults and polymorbid individuals and malnourished people in general. ICU stay, polymorbidity and older age are all commonly associated with high risk for malnutrition, representing per se a relevant risk factor for higher morbidity and mortality in chronic and acute disease. Also importantly, prolonged ICU stays are reported to be required for COVID-19 patients stabilization, and longer ICU stay may per se directly worsen or cause malnutrition, with severe loss of skeletal muscle mass and function which may lead to disability, poor quality of life and additional morbidity. Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition should therefore be routinely included in the management of COVID-19 patients. In the current document, the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) aims at providing concise guidance for nutritional management of COVID-19 patients by proposing 10 practical recommendations. The practical guidance is focused to those in the ICU setting or in the presence of older age and polymorbidity, which are independently associated with malnutrition and its negative impact on patient survival.Auswirkungen auf das Überleben assoziiert sind.
