# A Novel Facet of In-Hospital Food Consumption Associated with Hospital Mortality in Patients with Scheduled Admission—Addition of a Study Protocol to Test the Existence of Effects of COVID-19 in the Same Study in the Post-COVID-19 Period

## TL;DR

This study finds that eating less than 75% of hospital food is linked to higher in-hospital mortality and proposes a protocol to test if this effect persists post-pandemic.

## Contribution

The first study protocol to test the effects of food consumption on in-hospital mortality in the post-COVID-19 period.

## Key findings

- Low food consumption (<75% of hospital food requirement) predicts higher in-hospital mortality.
- No significant seasonal or age-related effects on in-hospital mortality were found.
- A 75% cutoff for food consumption was identified as a novel indicator for poor survival.

## Abstract

Background: Humankind has faced unexperienced pandemic events since 2020. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has calmed down, we felt the need to verify whether in-hospital mortality had worsened compared to pre-pandemic conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To test the hypothesis that daily food consumption is associated with in-hospital mortality during hospitalization and to provide baseline data to examine whether the effects of COVID-19 exist or not in post-pandemic period. Methods: All hospitalized patients staying in a single institution on the third Thursday of May, August, November, and the following February were included. Compared data: (1) among four seasons, (2) between age < 75 vs. ≥75 years, (3) between <75% vs. ≥75% of in-hospital food, and (4) logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with in-hospital mortality. Results: In 365 inpatients, the following results were obtained: (1) no seasonality or age effect in in-hospital mortality, (2) the novel cutoff value of 75% of the hospital food requirement was used to identify poor in-hospital survivors, (3) logistic regression analysis showed low food consumption, with <75% of the hospital food requirement as the predictor of high in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: A small eater of in-hospital food < 75% during hospitalization was associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality in patients with scheduled hospitalization in the pre-pandemic period. Then, a study protocol is proposed to test the existence of the effects of COVID-19 in the same study in the post-COVID-19 period. This study protocol is, to our knowledge, the first proposal to test the effects of food consumption in the post-COVID-19 period on in-hospital mortality in the clinical nutritional areas.