ABSTRACT
Dramatic weight loss and hypoalbuminemia often follow acute hospitalization. Both concurrent illness and undernutrition present prior to hospital admission account for these changes. Forty to sixty percent of hospitalized patients are undernourished, at least by traditional diagnostic criteria.1 Sixty percent of elderly adults are undernourished on the day of admission to the hospital.2 Hospital nutritional status is poorly monitored,3-6 and patients often subsist on inadequate intake for days at a time.7-9 Despite the high prevalence of undernutrition, nutrition is rarely addressed during hospital stays.10
