The aim of this paper is to evaluate, in a restropective analysis, the attendance at the nutrition ambulatory service of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Universidade Federal de Goiás, Brazil, from 1991 to 1995. The purpose of the ambulatory is to give nutritional orientation to healthy and sick people of the community, and also to the employees and the students of the University. The attendance is done with the use of an individual register that includes a rigorous control of weight and height data, a 24 hours record of diet and behaviour information and a record of the eating frequency. The diet prescription is individual and it is based on the cultural, social and economic conditions of the patient. In the retrospective analysis, nutritional forms were consulted, and data about age, sex, nutritional status, medical diagnosis, associated diseases and number of returning consultations were evaluated. It was observed that 646 patients were attended, of which 26.2% were male and 73.8% were female, and 24.7 % of them aged 19 to 35 years. The main diseases verified were obesity (50.8%) and diabetes (33.3%). Concerning to nutritional status classification, 33.9% of the diabetic clients were overweight and 30.2% were eutrophic. Among the patients whose main complaint was obesity, 68.3% were really classified as obese. It was observed that 40.9%n of the diabetic patients and 44.5% of the obese clients showed other diseases associated. However, 61.0% of the patients did not return to the next consultation. Therefore, it must be remembered that a constant evaluation of the nutrition ambulatory service that is offered to the community is important, in order to increase the efficiency of the dietetic treatment and to support the planning of the constant reformulation of the activities.
nutritional assesment; diet therapy; community health; services; outpatients; food service hospital
