Association between reduced food intake and hospital discharge to home in Chinese adults: A cross‐sectional nutritionDay survey study

BACKGROUND: Reduced food intake is a major contributor to malnutrition, but validated thresholds remain uncertain. Our study aimed to examine the associations of preceding-week food intake and nutritionDay food intake with home discharge. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey study using data from 10,368 Chinese adult inpatients participating in the nutritionDay initiative from 2010 to 2024. Cox proportional hazards regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were used to examine associations between reduced food intake and home discharge within 30 days after nutritionDay. RESULTS: Preceding-week food intake ≤50% was associated with a lower probability of home discharge and prolonged median length of stay after nutritionDay compared with preceding-week intake > 50%, particularly among patients with nutritionDay intake ≤25% (9 vs. 7 days, P < 0.001) or who were forbidden to eat (11 vs. 7 days, P < 0.001). Additionally, nutritionDay food intake ≤25% was associated with a lower discharge probability and a longer median length of stay after nutritionDay among patients with preceding-week intake >50% (HR 0.93, 95% CI [0.87-0.98], P = 0.01; 7 vs. 6 days, P < 0.001) and ≤ 50% (HR 0.86, 95% CI [0.76-0.98], P = 0.03; 9 vs. 6 days, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Preceding-week food intake ≤ 50% and nutritionDay food intake ≤25% were each associated with a lower likelihood of home discharge. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing recent dietary history when implementing fasting protocols, particularly for patients with poor preceding-week intake or patients prohibited from eating on nutritionDay.