AN INFORMAL ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITIONAL-STATUS IN ACUTE STROKE FOR USE IN AN INTERNATIONAL MULTICENTER TRIAL OF FEEDING REGIMENS

Patients with acute stroke may become malnourished because of feeding difficulties, so dietary supplementation may improve outcome. We inves tigated the validity and reliability of an 'eyeball' assessment of nut ritional status for use in an international trial of different feeding following acute stroke. One hundred and one inpatients (mean age 75 y ears), of whom 40 had suffered an acute stroke, were independently obs erved by two medical students, a doctor and a nurse, and categorised a s underweight, normal weight or overweight. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using height and weight. Sensitivity of the informal assess ment for correctly classifying the patient as underweight (BMI <20 kg/ m(2)), normal (20-30 kg/m(2)) and overweight (BMI >30 kg/m(2)) ranged from 64% to 100% and specificity from 71% to 100%. Interobserver agree ment between different pairs of observers was moderate to good. An 'ey eball' assessment of nutritional status is valid and reliable enough f or use in a multicentre trial of feeding regimens following acute stro ke.