Malnutrition, eating difficulties and feeding dependence in a stroke rehabilitation centre

Purpose. To analyse prevalence of malnutrition, eating difficulties and feeding dependence in stroke rehabilitation patients because little is known about these prevalence's. Stroke patients have an increased risk for developing eating difficulties, feeding dependence and malnutrition because of their neurological deficits. Methods. Malnutrition is defined by having unintentional weight loss or a low BMI. Structured observations of eating difficulties and feeding dependence were performed at a regular meal. Results. During the study period of 18 months 69 patients of the 114 admitted stroke patients were included in our study. On admittance malnutrition was present in 35% of the patients and decreased to 3% after 4 weeks of rehabilitation. In total 43% of the patients had one or more eating difficulties and 16% was dependent in feeding. Aberrant eating speed was significantly associated with the presence of malnutrition at admission. Conclusions. The prevalence of malnutrition in stroke rehabilitation patients is high and decreases significantly during four weeks of rehabilitation. Research is needed into constructs of malnutrition, eating difficulties and feeding dependence.