Vitamin B12 and folic acid levels are not related to length of stay in elderly inpatients.

We designed this study, to evaluate the interaction (relation) between vitamin B12 and folic acid levels and length of hospital stay in elderly inpatients.In this cross-sectional study, the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF) test was used to evaluate nutritional status of 615 (239 men, 376 female; mean age 72.89 ± 8.93 y) inpatients of a university hospital. Length of stay and blood samples in elderly inpatients were evaluated.Only 33.8% of the patients were classified as having an adequate nutritional status; 44.3% had a risk of malnutrition, and 21.8% were classified as malnourished. Low MNA-SF score was related to length of stay, but vitamin B12 and folic acid were not related to risk of malnutrition and length of stay.MNA-SF score is associated with length of stay; however, vitamin B12 level, per se, is not associated with length of hospital stay in elderly inpatients.