Standardising and Simplifying the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) for Its More General Application

Standardising and Simplifying the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) for Its More General Application

This observational study of aims to test whether and how the results of GLIM change when using different approaches and methods to carry out its components.

The main questions the study aims to answer are:

• What is the most effective pre-GLIM screening approach?
• Which of the simple, globally accessible muscle mass measurement methods works the best in the context of GLIM?
• How does using simpler approaches to screening and muscle mass measurement affect the performance of GLIM in detecting Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) defined malnutrition and 1-year mortality?

Participants will be/have:

• asked questions about their recent food intake and possible non-volitional weight loss
• assessed for malnutrition with SGA
• weighed, and their height will be measured (if not already recorded)
• their muscle mass measured with a measuring tape (mid-upper arm circumference and calf circumference) and bioelectrical impedance
• their muscle function measured using hand grip strength
• have their patient records looked at to extract their weight and height data (if present), diagnoses, routine blood test results, abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan (if present), dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan (if present), 1-year mortality and personal identification code for documentation (the latter will be deleted when the study period is over).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age of 18+ years
• Able and willing to sign the consent form
• Inpatients of the Tartu University Hospital
• Admitted within 72 hours before enrolment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age of <18 years
• Inability or refusal to sign the consent form
• Pregnant or lactating women
• More than 72 hours passed since admission
• Patients isolating with an infection