Assessment of nutritional status.

Malnutrition is an important factor which influences both the morbidity and the recovery, Assessment of the initial nutritional status, then its evolu tion during the disease and/or treatment, plays an important role for tailo ring the nutritional support. This assessment allows to specify the nutriti onal needs and body reserves, as well as the metabolic and immunologic func tions. The global nutritional assessment is aimed at defining if the patien t is: well nourished, slightly or severely malnourished, and if the aetiolo gies of the existing malnutrition will disappear, increase or decrease. Thi s conclusion correlates the nutritional assessment to the dynamic of the pa thology and highlights if the nutritional support has to be immediate or de layed, maximal or partial. No single method allows to detect PCM, except in very severe cases. The dia gnosis of PCR I results of various clinical, biological and functional info rmations. This review describes the main methods and suggests practical mod alities for nutritional assessment.