More than a third of patients malnourished when being admitted to hospitals in Ireland

More than a third of patients are malnourished when being admitted to hospitals in Ireland and the level is increasing, according to new research.

The research, by the Irish Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, found an increase in hospital admission malnutrition, up to 34 per cent in the latest survey, compared to 32 per cent in 2011 and 28 per cent in 2010.

However, it also found the rate of malnutrition in patients in long-stay or rehabilitation wards was at 21 per cent, compared to 36 per cent on all other wards, and in those admitted from other hospitals at 26 per cent compared to 35 per cent in those admitted from home. This showed that mandatory national malnutrition screening and treatment protocols introduced in public hospitals in 2020 were working, the researchers said.

The survey used data from 3,662 patients across 26 public hospitals in Ireland.

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The society called for malnutrition screening to be expanded to other clinical settings such as in outpatients, day care and primary care settings, particularly for cancer patients and older people.

In its 2025 pre-budget submission on Monday, the society called for additional malnutrition interventions to be supported and funded. Director Niamh Rice said the survey identified two major reasons for the rise in patients with risk factors for malnutrition.

“The first is an increase in the age demographic of patients presenting at hospitals, with older people more likely to be malnourished, and secondly a higher incidence of cancer, resulting in more cancer patients within the general hospital population,” she said.

This patient cohort were also more likely to suffer nutritional problems resulting in malnutrition.

“The level of malnutrition presenting at our public hospitals remains too high, and some is preventable if we pay more attention to improving the nutritional status of patients in the community,” she said.

It was necessary to expand screening and treatment for malnutrition to all settings where cancer patients receive care, particularly in day wards where they receive systemic anticancer therapy, ”to facilitate rapid access to specialist cancer dietitians, of whom we have just a handful across the country”, she said.

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