Background and importance The pharmacy service (PS) is a cornerstone of the nutritional support of patients, especially those with special needs. For this reason, it is necessary to create individualised nutrition following recommendations from scientific organisations, such as the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN).

Aim and objectives To analyse prescriptions of parental nutrition (PN) during the pandemic and compare them with those from the same time period in 2019.

Material and methods This was a retrospective descriptive observational analysis of data from a secondary care hospital during March and April, both in 2019 and 2020. Demographic (age and sex) and clinical (length of PN and diagnosis) data were collected from medical records.

Results There were 157 patients with PN during the period of study in 2020, 106 (67.5%) men with a median age of 67 years (IQR 14.5 years). In 2019, 64 patients received PN, 38 (59.4%) were men with a median age of 70 years (IQR 17). In 2020, 48.8% of patients with PN were under the critical care service (CCS), 30.6% internal medicine service (IMS) and 18.5% surgical service (SS); 108 (68.8%) were diagnosed with COVID-19. In 2019, 15.6% of patients were under CCS, 25% IMS and 56.4% SS. In 2020, 85 patients (54.1%) terminated PN due to health improvement and 60 (38.2%) died; in 2019, 54 (84.4%) improved and 9 (14.1%) died. In 2020, the median age of deceased patients was 67 years (IQR 12.5 years) and in 2019 it was 77 years (IQR 9.5 years). The total number of PN prescribed during the periods of the study was 2121 in 2020 and 876 in 2019.

Conclusion and relevance In the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, nearly half of all PN were prepared for CCS patients. This increase in CCS patients in 2020 seems to explain the 10 year reduction in the median age of death and the increase in mortality. In 2020, the number of PN prepared by the PS nearly tripled in comparison with the same period in 2019. They were individually adapted to each patient’s requirements, which led to a substantial increase in the care load and the preparation of the PN.

Conflict of interest No conflict of interest