Therapeutic index of nutritional depletion in hospitalized patients.

A creatinine height index, which compares the creatinine excretion of a patient with that of an idealized normal adult of the same height, was used to assess protein status in 30 young males serving as controls and 11 malnourished male surgical patients, eight on a metabolic ward and three on a general surgical ward. The mean creatinine height index was 1.09 in the normal males and 0.50 in the 11 who were malnourished, a difference which is highly significant, p less than 0.005. The creatinine height index was more sensitive than other measures of nutritional status in this study, which included weight for height, nitrogen balance and serum albumin levels. These results suggest a role for this technique in the nutritional assessment of the surgical patient, which must play an increasing role in the critical care of this patient population.