ISSN: 1885-5857 Impact factor 2023 7.2
Vol. 65. Num. 6.
Pages 584 (June 2012)

Nutritional Status, Heart Failure and Minimum Basic Data Set. Response

Situación nutricional. insuficiencia cardiaca y Conjunto Mínimo Básico de Datos. Respuesta

Antonio ZapateroaRaquel BarbabJavier Marcoc
Rev Esp Cardiol. 2012;65:58310.1016/j.rec.2012.01.007
Luis Angel Sánchez-Muñoz

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To the Editor,

We wish to thank Dr. Sánchez-Muñoz for his letter. First, we would like to express our agreement with him about the limited capacity of the Minimum Basic Data Set (MBDS) to reflect nutritional status, a view that we mention in the discussion section of our article.

Our group has recently published a review concerning reports of malnutrition in Spanish internal medicine departments1 in which we found that this condition was recorded in only 1.4% of patients, whereas in prospective studies the incidence is around 50%.2 In our review, we pointed out that the presence of malnutrition was accompanied by twice the mortality rate and a longer mean hospital stay than patients who were not undernourished, and we commented with surprise on the failure to report such an important finding.

The MBDS is “fed” mainly by the data provided in discharge records, and we consider it remarkable that information like this, which may reinforce important indicators of functional capacity, is not reflected in our records.3 In fact, for the article published in your journal, we reviewed codes V85.0 to V85.5 as suggested by Dr. Sánchez-Muñoz in his letter, and found that these existed in a very small proportion of the cases, fewer than 1/10000 of all the records. This appears to reflect the fact that, despite its importance, body mass index is not provided in the vast majority of discharge records or, if reported, the encoders do not systematically include it.

On the other hand, as the MBDS and other administrative databases are mandatory under the law they contain a very large amount of information that combines demographic, epidemiological patient care data. This not only provides information for administrators on the efficiency and quality of care, but can also be useful for clinicians involved in research projects, and would be even more so if compliance with the discharge record on the part of the physician preparing it were more complete.4

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Corresponding author: raquel.barba@hospitalreyjuancarlos.es

Bibliography
[1]
Marco J, Barba R, Zapatero A, Matia P, Plaza S, Losa JE, et al..
Prevalence of the notification of malnutrition in the departments of internal medicine and its prognostic implications..
Clin Nutr. , (2011), 30 pp. 450-454
[2]
Gómez Ramos MJ, González Valverde FM, Sánchez Álvarez..
Estudio del estado nutricional en la población anciana hospitalizada..
Nutr Hosp. , (2005), 20 pp. 286-292
[3]
Zapatero A..
¿Por qué es importante el informe de alta?..
Rev Clin Esp. , (2010), 210 pp. 355-358
[4]
Jiménez Puente A, García-Alegría J, Lara-Blanquer A..
Sistemas de información para clínicos I. Cómo conocer qué tipo de pacientes atienden nuestros hospitales..
Rev Clin Esp. , (2010), 210 pp. 298-303
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