Abstract

Objective: The curriculum of nutritional education covered in medical schools remains inadequate in both, developing and developed countries. In this study, we analyzed the current knowledge and practices regarding clinical nutrition among Turkish clinicians by examining their publications, abstract presentations, and congress participation in the field of clinical nutrition.

Methods: We conducted a search on PubMed using the headings “Turkey” and “nutrition” to identify all the published literature on clinical nutrition in Turkey. Abstract books and websites were searched to identify the abstracts published by Turkish clinicians in the Turkish Society of Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition (KEPAN) and the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) Congresses during the period from 2010 to 2020.

Results: Total 378 publications on clinical nutrition that were published by Turkish clinicians till the end of 2019 were identified; 43.4% of them were published within the previous 5 years. Most (69.8%) of these publications were from fields related to general clinical nutrition. The first article was published on the subject of malnutrition in 1961. About 500–850 healthcare professionals participated in the KEPAN congresses during the previous decade. The highest participation in these congresses was from physicians, with an increasing interest in nutrition congresses among all healthcare professionals. Abstract submissions increased in each consecutive congress except in the congress held in 2017. The progressive increase in number of abstract submissions from Turkey to the ESPEN congresses peaked in 2018. Turkey was announced as the country with the most abstract submissions to the ESPEN congresses in 2017 and 2018.

Conclusion: There is a progressively increasing trend in the number of publications on clinical nutrition in Turkey. KEPAN has played an important role in raising interest in the field of clinical nutrition among clinicians.

Keywords: Abstract, clinical nutrition, publication