Assessment of health behaviours versus nutritional status of patients treated in hospital wards

Introduction:
Health behaviours are all kinds of health behaviours that lead to certain positive or negative health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to assess the health behaviour and nutritional status of patients treated in hospital wards.

Material and methods:
The study included 102 patients: 51 hospitalized in the department of neurosurgery and 51 in the department of gastroenterology. A diagnostic survey method was used, including the IZZ questionnaire, the NRS 2002 scale, the BMI scale, and a questionnaire of our own authorship. The obtained results were statistically verified by assuming a significance level of p < 0.05.

Results:
In each of the study groups, the majority were women – 54.9% in the gastroenterology department and 56.9% in the neurosurgery department. The overall score for the BMI scale differed highly significantly depending on the ward in which the respondents were present (p < 0.01, Mann-Whitney U test); in the neurosurgery ward, the scores of this scale were higher. BMI scale scores were higher for respondents from the neurosurgery department; the mean score was 27 points, and the maximum value was 50.8 points. In the gastroenterology department, the values were, respectively, 24 points and 37.2 points. These results were statistically highly significant (p < 0.01).

Conclusions:
Patients of the neurosurgery department rated their health behaviour at a high level, while those of the gastroenterology department rated it at an average level. Patients of the neurosurgery department were better nourished than those hospitalized in the gastroenterology department.