China Nutrition Fundamental Data 2020

Malnutrition caused by reduced food intake or assimilation and varying degrees of acute or chronic inflammation is a serious and underappreciated risk factor for adverse clinical outcomes. Despite the substantial health and economic burden, malnutrition remains to affect a considerable proportion of hospitalized patients worldwide. Nationally representative studies from the USA, Australia, and European countries have reported prevalence figures in the range of 8.9% to 80.4%. However, national data in some resource-poor countries, such as China, the largest developing country in the world, are scarce.

We did the China Nutrition Fundamental Data 2020 in a large, nationally representative sample of Chinese adult inpatients to 1) Explore the relationship between nutrition and health; 2) Understand the capacity of nutrition services in Chinese medical institutions.

This project adopted a multistage, stratified, cluster-sampling procedure based on administrative divisions in China. For each participant, a structured interview was done by trained nutritionists or clinicians. The following data were acquired: weight change within and beyond six months, food intake change within two weeks, nutrition therapy during this hospitalization, and laboratory tests. We also collected information on participants' sociodemographic characteristics and medical history. We took physical measurements, including height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, mid-arm circumference, calf circumference, handgrip strength, and blood pressure following standard protocols. Body composition was measured using bioimpedance analysis (BIA). In total, 54677 inpatients from 291 project hospitals completed information collection.

In addition, we collected information on the number of beds, the nutrition support team, the nutrition treatment plan and the construction of a full-time nutrition physician or nutrition nurse, the routine monitoring methods, interventions, and distribution of brochures for patients with malnutrition or nutritional risk in each project hospital and 37 other hospitals based on the principle of voluntary participation. A total of 328 hospitals completed information collection.

This project will establish standards for nutrition risk assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of inpatients in China, promote the construction of clinical nutrition departments, and improve the nutritional status of inpatients.