Nutritional evaluation of HIV-infected patients by chang’s method

Abstract

Introduction: the nutritional state represents a critical element for the survival of HIV-infected patients. Multiple variables, both anthropometric andbiochemical or immunological, are often used in the nutritional evolution of a person, which, at times, makes it difficult to classify the patients according to their type or level of malnutrition. The nutritional evaluation proposed by Chang represents a simple, cheap, reliable, specific, easy to reproduce method, which not only enables the existence of malnutrition to be determined in a patient, but also to classify them, according to their malnutri-tion. Objective: to nutritionally evaluate groups of 45 HIV-infected people of both sexes belonging to different clinical groups of the infection, whohave sought clinical and hospital services in the city of Pinas del Rio, in accordance with the Chang nutritional evaluation method. Methods: anthro-pometric, biochemical and immunological indicators were determined in accordance with those proposed in the Chang nutritional evaluation proposal, to determine if malnutrition was present or not and its level. Both the proportions of persons with different types and different levels of malnutrition were compared. Results: for patients at the asymptomatic stage, there was a low proportion of malnutrition, all with a very low level, howeverall types of protein-energy malnutrition were represented. For people in stage IV, the malnutrition proportion was higher, with a predominance ofhigh-level malnutrition. Only in the more advanced stages of the disease is it recommended to apply the Chang nutritional evaluation method to HIV patients, along with the premature application of personalized, priority nutritional therapy as an integral part of the care of these patients, with the aimof preventing states of malnutrition. Conclusion: protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM) was found in patients at the asymptomatic stage, albeit in lowproportions and the early stages. The proportion of undernourished people and the level of malnutrition increased in the more clinically advanced sta-ges of the disease, with mixed or combined forms predominant.