Nutritional Status and Quality of Life in Patients Admitted for Gastrointestinal Surgery

The physiological and psychosocial stresses of surgery increase the risk of poor nutritional status, which is clearly linked to poorer outcomes. Poor nutrition therefore has its consequences on quality of life. The evaluation of Quality of Life assesses patients' well-being by taking into account physical, psychological and social conditions. The objectives are to assess the anthropometric parameters, Biochemical parameters, diet history and Quality of Life of the study subjects using Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index questionnaire (GOQLI) and to compare the nutritional status and Quality of Life scores and to correlate the anthropometric, biochemical parameters and nutrient intake with GIQLI scores. A prospective study using convenient sampling technique was conducted on 50 study subjects to assess their nutritional status and gastrointestinal quality of life. In this study the GIQLI score was divided into overall, physical, emotional and gastrointestinal domains. Observations showed nutritional status had significant association (p<0.05) with physical domain (12.12±14.15). In biochemical parameter albumin had significant association (p<0.05) with emotional domain and nutrient intake was found to have significant association (p<0.01) with emotional domain. In patients admitted for GI surgery the overall and domain specific scores were found to be less when compared with the scores of normal subjects as reported in the previous studies. The overall and domain specific GIQLI scores seem to have association with varying weight loss, serum albumin and nutrient intake. It is understood that gastrointestinal Quality of Life has major impact on the underlying disease progression and recovery, appropriate nutritional intervention and support should be provided at the earliest to prevent further decline in nutritional status and post-operative complications.