The clinical impact of malnutrition on the postoperative outcomes of patients undergoing colorectal resection surgery for colon or rectal cancer: Propensity score matched analysis of 2011-2017 US hospitals.

Background & Aims: Malnutrition can be prevalently found in patients with significant-to-advanced colorectal cancer, who potential require colorectal resection procedures; to accurately describe the postoperative risks, we used a propensity-score matched comparison of national database to analyze the effects of malnutrition on post-colectomy outcomes.

Methods: 2011-2017 National inpatient Sample was used to isolate inpatient ceases of colorectal resection procedures, which were stratified using malnutrition into malnutrition-present cohort and malnutrition-absent controls; the controls were propensity-score matched with the study cohort using 1:1 ratio and compared to the following endpoints: mortality, length of stay, costs, postoperative complications.

Results: After matching, there were 11357 with and without malnutrition who underwent colorectal resection surgery; in comparison, malnourished patients had higher rates of in-hospital mortality (6.14 vs 3.22% p < 0.001, OR 1.96 95%CI 1.73-2.23), length of stay (15.4 vs 9.61d p < 0.001), costs ($163, 962 vs $102,709 p < 0.001), and were more likely to be discharged to non-routine discharges, including short term hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home healthcare. In terms of complications, malnourished patients had higher bleeding (2.87 vs 1.68% p < 0.001, OR 1.73 95%CI 1.44-2.07), wound complications (4.31 vs 1.34% p < 0.001, OR 3.32 95%CI 2.76-3.99), infection (6 vs 2.62% p < 0.001, OR 2.38 95%CI 2.07-2.73), and postoperative respiratory failure (7.27 vs 3.37% p < 0.001, OR 2.25 95%CI 1.99-2.54).

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the presence of malnutrition to be associated with adverse postoperative outcomes including mortality and complications in patients undergoing colorectal resection surgery for colon cancer.