Nutrition in orthopaedic surgery.

One hundred and twenty-nine patients undergoing orthopaedic surgical procedures were found to have an average incidence of clinical and subclinical malnutrition of 42.4 per cent per patient. The lowest incidence of nutritional depletion was identified in patients undergoing total hip-replacement surgery (28.6 per cent), followed by the elective surgical group (35.3 per cent) and patients with multiple trauma and femoral fractures (58.6 per cent). Trauma and major surgery were shown to induce a state of malnutrition and a loss of immunocompetence. A significant (p less than 0.05) correlation between subnormal nutritional indices and the development of complications was identified. A comprehensive approach to the detection and correction of malnutrition in orthopaedic patients is described.