Association between nutritional therapy and complications in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 followed in the state of Pernambuco

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the association between nutritional therapy and complications in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 followed in Pernambuco. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted to investigate secondary data from multicenter research from June 2020 to June 2021. Patients of both sexes over 18 years old were hospitalized for COVID-19 in wards or intensive care units of eight hospitals. Sociodemographic and economic data, nutritional status, nutritional therapy, gastrointestinal complications, and clinical outcome were collected during admission and at the end of hospitalization. Results: The sample consisted of 272 patients, with a median age of 67 years (IQR 54 - 76), equally distributed between men and women (50.4% vs. 49.6%). A higher frequency of overweight/obesity (40.31%) was observed. The most frequent alterations were inappetence (12.88%) and dysgeusia (8.28%). It was observed that 84.6% received an early diet, the caloric adequacy varied between 72.1% and 60.7%, the oral route between 82.4% and 70.7%, the majority (58%) received up to 1.3 g of protein per day, and 46.7% died. Caloric adequacy was associated with dysgeusia (p = 0.040) and clinical outcome (p = 0.044) and tended to be associated with vomiting (p = 0.077). No association was found with proteins. Conclusion: Nutritional therapy is associated with gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting and dysgeusia and the clinical outcome of patients with COVID-19.