Malnutrition is a common problem in hospital settings. A poor nutritional status has been associated with higher rates of infection, poor wound healing, longer hospital stays, and higher hospital costs. Therefore, early recognition and timely treatment of malnutrition is vital. To identify malnourished individuals or those at risk of becoming malnourished, selecting and validated a uniform screening tool is clearly an important issue. Both the Nutritional Risk Screening-2002 (NRS-2002) and Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) are recommended by the European Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN) for a hospital setting. For older patients, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) is the recommended tool. Short Nutrition Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ) and Malnutrition Screening Tools (MST) are brief and simple screening tools that use self-reported queries of variables that include weight loss and poor appetite. On the other hand, many of those require considerable time and labor to administer and may not be highly applicable to a Korean population. In Korea, most hospitals use a computerized nutritional screening system with a self-developed nutrition screening index. The variables for the tools, which are based on each hospital setting, include the objective data available in the patient’s medical records and limited information collected from the nursing admission questionnaire. The application of different tools hampers any comparison of the malnutrition prevalence between different settings and patients groups. In addition, the absence of a widely accepted malnutrition screening tool hinders both effective recognition and the treatment of malnutrition. Therefore, the development of uniform and valid screening tools and effective nutritional support programs for Korean malnourished patients is needed.

Underweight and specific nutrient deficiencies are frequent in adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In addition, a significant number of children with IBD, particularly Crohn’s disease (CD) have impaired linear growth. Nutritional support is important in patients with IBD and nutritional problems. Enteral nutrition (EN) can reduce CD activity and maintain remission in both adults and children. Given that the ultimate goal in the treatment of CD is mucosal healing, this advantage of EN over corticosteroid treatment is valuable in therapeutic decision-making. EN is indicated in active CD, in cases of steroid intolerance, in patient’s refusal of steroids, in combination with steroids in undernourished individuals, and in patients with inflammatory stenosis of the small intestine. EN should be the first choice compared to total parenteral nutrition. However, EN does not have a primary therapeutic role in ulcerative colitis. In conclusion, it appears that the role of nutrition as supportive care in patients with IBD should not be underestimated. The aim of this comprehensive review is to provide the reader with an update on the role of nutritional support in IBD patients.

The restricted resources on healthcare highlights the importance of clinical and cost effectiveness. The social and economic costs of chronic diseases are increasing. Home total parenteral nutrition (home TPN) for the patients with intestinal failure is a life-sustaining therapy until intestinal transplantation. An economic evaluation of home TPN has not been conducted in Korea. Three types of economic evaluations for home TPN are cost benefit analysis, cost effectiveness analysis, and cost utility analysis. Korea’s medical market is competitive due to the limited health care resources. A health care delivery system from hospital to home needs to be established under the supervision of professional Nutrition Support Team staff including the systematic policies and social recognition.