Malnutrition in Surgical Patients in the Faroe Islands: Post-discharge Nutrition and Resistance Training

Surgery combined with malnutrition is associated with loss of muscle mass and leads to serious consequences for the surgical patient. A majority of surgical patients continue to lose weight after discharge. Nutritional risk screening has not been fully implemented at Landssjúkrahúsið - the National Hospital of the Faroe Islands and therefore the prevalence of patients at nutritional risk is unknown. The aim of this study is to examine whether an intervention with independent nutritional supplements or an intervention combining nutritional supplements and resistance training is more effective in preventing loss of muscle mass than standard care in surgical patients following discharge. Secondary outcomes are changes in body weight, quality of life, muscle strength and activities of daily living. Furthermore, we want to screen hospitalized surgical patients for nutritional risk in order to get an estimate of the prevalence of nutritional risk.