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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. A new systematic assessment of malnutrition, created by researchers at Penn State, will aid dietitians and other health care providers in diagnosis and treatment. Up to 50 percent of patients in hospitals and nursing facilities are estimated to be malnourished, according to Gordon Jensen, professor and head of nutritional sciences, Penn State. Although malnutrition is widespread, confusion exists in the clinical community on how to best make this diagnose. Malnourished patients are frequently not identified as such, and those not affected are sometimes thought to be malnourished. "Our systematic assessment is a new approach created for health care professionals to enable them to appropriately diagnosis and treat malnutrition in patients," said Jensen. Supported by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, the new approach to diagnosis describes syndromes of malnutrition in the context of starvation, chronic disease and/or acute disease or injury.
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