Nutrición Hospitalaria
ISSN 1699-5198 ISSN 0212-1611
SILVEIRA MONTEIRO-DA SILVA, Leandro FALCAO RAMOS-DA CUNHA, Haroldo. A mathematical description for the nutrition therapy ecosystem. []. , 39, 4, pp.905-909. 31--2022. ISSN 1699-5198. https://dx.doi.org/10.20960/nh.03954.
Background:
nutrition therapy is a complex area of healthcare systems that encompasses patient characteristics, medical decision making, nutritional formula characteristics, and costs, composing a complex ecosystem. The integration of these different domains is actualized in medical prescription in a heuristic and iterative way, taking into account patient characteristics and formulas, with a limited capacity for in-scale calculations and inclusion of factors involved in the prescription of nutritional formulas and other ecosystem elements. From a practical standpoint, depicting the four areas as equalities could provide the necessary equivalence to study dependence and consequence from left- and right-side terms.
Objectives:
the objective of this theoretical study is to provide a mathematical model that describes and integrates different aspects of nutrition therapy.
Methods:
in this theoretical study, we deducted a mathematical representation for nutrition therapy using first-grade equations and simple calculus techniques.
Results:
a formula that coordinates four elements of the nutrition therapy ecosystem was found: cashflow, compliance adherence, patient, and macronutrient mass, formula density and unitary cost.
Conclusion:
factors involving decision-making in nutrition therapy can be unified in a mathematical model.
: Mathematical models; Nutrition therapy; Cashflow; Nutritional formulas.