Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health problem, responsible for more than 1 million deaths each year. The association between TB and malnutrition is well recognized. Malnutrition is common in pulmonary TB patients, especially those who are hospitalized, and may adversely affect treatment outcomes. However, data from Indonesia are sparse, despite high burden of TB.
Objective: To evaluate nutritional status among hospitalized pulmonary TB patients in Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Methods: This is a descriptive study using secondary data of 345 hospitalized pulmonary TB patients in Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital between January 2011 and September 2013. We assessed nutritional statuses at the time of hospital admission using body mass index (BMI), Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and serum albumin level. Results: At the time of admission, 66.4% of subjects had BMI <18.5 kg/m2, 50.7% of subjects had serum albumin level <3.0 g/dL and 83.8% of subjects had MST score >2.
Conclusion: More than half of hospitalized pulmonary TB patients were malnourished at the time of admission. These findings can be used to support the argument for initiation of nutritional status assessment to identify hospitalized pulmonary TB patients in Indonesia who are in risk of malnutrition.
Key words: Pulmonary tuberculosis, malnutrition, body mass index, albumin, Malnutrition Screening Tool