WEDNESDAY, Jan. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Undernourished stroke patients are more likely to experience complications and poor clinical outcomes, according to study findings published in the January issue of the Archives of Neurology.
Sung-Hee Yoo, of the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea, and colleagues assessed the nutritional status of 131 patients within 24 hours and at one week after experiencing an acute ischemic stroke.
The researchers found that 16 (12.2 percent) of the patients were undernourished at admission and that 26 (19.8) percent were undernourished at one week. The investigators also found that baseline undernourishment independently predicted post-stroke complications (odds ratio, 6.72) and that one-week undernourishment independently predicted poor three-month outcomes.
"This article is the latest in a series of studies representing current thinking about the potential value of nutritional support for stroke patients in the acute care setting," states the author of an accompanying editorial. "Providing adequate caloric intake early in the course after ischemic stroke may now be seen as a therapeutic intervention used to minimize disease severity, reduce complications, and favorably affect patient outcomes. In the end, factors related to overall amount, content, route and timing may determine whether nutritional support improves outcomes or is ineffective."
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