Original scientific paper

NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS

Doroteja Perić
Mislav Radić
Dijana Perković
Danijela Marasović Krstulović
Katarina Borić
Porin Perić
Dušanka Martinović Kaliterna

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare connective tissue disease, clinically characterized by disorders in the vascular, immunological, and fibrotic pathways. Nutritional status is used as a marker for disease activity and severity, predicting mortality in patients with systemic sclerosis. The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional status (degree of malnutrition) of SSc patients and to determine the possible association of nutritional status with the state of the oral cavity, the self-assessed evaluation of health, functional disability, and degree of disease progression, as well as with the severity and activity of the underlying
disease. In this study we determined the nutritional status (degree of malnutrition) in 17 patients with SSc using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST). From the obtained data on nutritional status, we searched for a correlation of the patients’ nutritional status with the state of their oral cavities measured by the OHIP 49 and with self assessed evaluation of health measured by the SF-36 questionnaire, as well as with the functional disability and degree of disease progression measured by the SHAQ questionnaire. Out of a total of 17 patients, a high risk of developing malnutrition was estimated in 11 patients, while a medium risk of developing malnutrition was found in 6 patients. The only statistically significant differences (P <0.05) were obtained by the SHAQ questionnaire. The patients with a high risk of developing malnutrition had significantly higher values obtained by the SHAQ questionnaire. In the MUST group with a high risk of developing malnutrition, positive SCL70 values, negative ACA values, higher disease activity, and a higher incidence of general, skin, and joint symptoms were observed to be significantly more common.
This pilot study suggests that there is a correlation of nutritional status (degree of malnutrition) with disease severity and activity of the underlying disease. Given the small number of patients involved in this study, additional studies are needed in a larger number of patients to fully confirm the conclusions of this study.

Keywords

Scleroderma, systemic; Malnutrition; Nutritional status; Oral health; Disability evaluation; Surveys and questionnaires; Self-assessment; Severity of illness index; Cross-sectional studies

Hrčak ID:

207084

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/207084

Publication date:

16.10.2018.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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