Malnutrition is an imbalance between the nutrients your body needs to function and the nutrients it gets. It is an independent risk factor that negatively influences patients’ clinical outcomes, quality of life, body function, and autonomy. Early identification of patients at risk of malnutrition or who are malnourished is crucial in order to start a timely and adequate nutritional support. Nutrition support refers to enteral or parenteral provision of calories, protein, electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and fluids.
Historically, serum proteins such as albumin and prealbumin (i.e. transthyretin) have been widely used by physicians to determine patients’ nutritional status. Other markers that have been studied include retinol-binding protein (RBP), transferrin, total cholesterol and indicators of inflammation such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and total lymphocyte count (TLC).
