Perioperative Nutrition in Abdominal Surgery: Recommendations and Reality

Table 1

Nutritional Risk Screening score (NRS 2002) [17]. The total score is obtained by adding the nutritional score to the disease score. Age > 70 years adds 1 to the total score. If age-corrected total is ≥3, the patient presents severe malnutrition, and nutritional support is recommended.

Malnutrition		Mild	Moderate	Severe
		Score 1	Score 2	Score 3
Nutritional Status	BMI (kg/m^2)	—	18.5–20.5	<18.5
	Food Intake (%)	50–70	25–50	<25
	Weight loss <5%	3 months	2 months	1 month
Disease severity	Example	Hip fracture, cirrhosis, COPD	Major surgery^a, Stroke	Head injury, bone marrow transplantation, ICU patients (APACHE 20)
Age	(Years)	>70

^aMajor abdominal surgery includes colorectal, gastric, liver, pancreatic, and esophageal resection for benign and malignant disease by either laparotomy or laparoscopic approach, lasting usually >2 h.