[Chinese expert consensus on perioperative nutritional support for elderly surgical patients (2024)].

The increasing aging population in China leads to an increase in the number of elderly patients undergoing surgical procedures. Elderly patients are characterized with conditions such as multiple comorbidities, high nutritional risk, frailty, decreased organ function, etc. Nutritional support is one of the most significant elements in the perioperative period of elderly surgical patients. Currently, there is a lack of guidelines or expert consensus on nutritional support. To promote the standardized development of clinical work in this field, the Geriatric Surgery Professional Committee of the Chinese Research Hospital Association gathered experts and formulated relevant recommendations for perioperative nutritional therapy for elderly surgical patients based on existing research evidence. This consensus included several parts: preoperative nutritional assessment, indications, goals, ingredients and approaches of perioperative nutritional support, nutritional complications and management, nutritional intervention for surgical complications, and nutritional follow-up. It is expected to provide valuable suggestions for standardizing nutritional support for elderly surgical patients.