Applicability of the nutritional screening tool royal free hospital-nutritional prioritizing tool in cirrhotic patients and its association with nutritional status

Introduction: Chronic liver disease is defined as the progressive deterioration of liver functions for more than six months. Furthermore, it is considered a continuous process of inflammation, destruction and regeneration of the liver parenchyma, which can progress to fibrosis and cirrhosis. Malnutrition in cirrhotic patients is considered a serious complication, and is often associated with the progression of liver failure and other complications. Patients with advanced liver disease should undergo rapid nutritional screening, as these individuals have worse prognoses associated with malnutrition. Objective: To evaluate the applicability of RFH-NPT as a nutritional screening tool in patients diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. Method: This is a cross-sectional study, carried out with patients over 18 years of age, of both sexes, diagnosed with chronic liver disease. Data collection was carried out using a pre-structured questionnaire formulated based on socioeconomic and lifestyle information. Nutritional assessment was carried out using anthropometric parameters; the RFH-NPT tool was used to assess nutritional risk. The assessment of food consumption patterns was carried out using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Results: 53 patients were evaluated, 64.2% male, predominantly elderly (56.6%), with primary education (56.9%). Regarding anthropometric parameters, it was found that BMI is insensitive to identify low weight in cirrhotic patients (13.2%). Regarding RFH-NPT, it was found that nutritional risk was present in 54.7% of those evaluated. Conclusion: The applicability of the screening tool proved to be appropriate for detecting the risk of malnutrition, considering that this screening detected a higher prevalence of patients at nutritional risk, enabling early nutritional intervention and preventing future complications.