Nutrition is a basic need and is crucial for the persistence of good health. This awareness has increased since December 2019 during the pandemic that the world is still facing. The importance of nutrition in infectious diseases was emphasized but the relationship between the severity of symptoms and nutrition status of individuals was not examined. This study compared the nutrition status of patients with COVID-19 admitted to the emergency service and the clinical severity of the disease. Based on the nutrition status of the 337 patients included in the study, 87.2% (294) of the patients were in the low-risk group while 12.8% (43) were in the high-risk group in terms of malnutrition. In the analysis conducted to examine the effect of nutrition on the severity of disease, the relationship between NRS 2002 and dyspnea, cough, weakness, fever, and other symptoms was statistically significant. It was concluded that healthy nutrition is crucial during the pandemic, and it is necessary to consider nutrition improvement as a way to cope with emerging viral infections.
Keywords: COVID-19; Clinical symptoms; NRS 2002; Nutritional status.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.