Özet:

Introduction: The Thickness of the Adductor Pollicis Muscle (TAPM) has been suggested as a promising measure in the diagnosis of malnutrition in several clinical conditions. Objective: To evaluate the applicability of the TAPM and correlate it with other methods of nutritional assessment in hospitalized patients. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study, conducted in March 2020, with adult and elderly patients admitted to a public hospital in Jequié-Bahia. Patients were submitted to nutritional status assessment through Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and anthropometric measurements. The TAPM was measured in both hands. Statistical analyzes were performed in SPSS® considering statistically significant values ​​of p <0.05. Results: 15 patients with a mean age of 65.2 ± 16.3 years were evaluated. The most frequent reason for hospitalization was injuries and wounds (33.3%). The average hospital stay was 15.7 ± 11.0 days and 40% of the patients were bedridden. As for the nutritional assessment, it was observed that 53.3% of the patients were malnourished by the Body Mass Index, a result superior to that of the SGA (40%). As for the TAPM of the non-dominant hand, all patients were malnourished. There was a positive correlation between the TAPM of the non-dominant hand with weight, muscle circumference of the arm and calf circumference, and a negative correlation with the SGA. The TAPM of the dominant hand did not correlate with the other variables analyzed. Conclusion: The TAPM correlated with measures of the muscular compartment and with the SGA, reinforcing its inclusion in the nutritional assessment process in hospitalized patients.

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