Clinical Value of the Prognostic Nutrition Index in the Assessment of Prognosis in Critically Ill Patients with Stroke: A Retrospective Analysis.

Purpose: The purpose of study was to evaluate the association between prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and all-cause mortality of critically ill patients with stroke.

Methods: Clinical data derived from Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care were analyzed. The primary endpoint was 30-day all-cause mortality; secondary endpoints were 90-day mortality and one-year cause mortality. The potential prognostic roles of PNI were analyzed by Cox proportional hazard models. The independent prognostic roles of PNI in the cases were analyzed by smooth curve fitting.

Results: Concerning 30-day mortality, the HR (95% CI) for a high PNI (≥39.7) was 0.700 (0.544, 0.900; = 0.00539), compared to a low PNI (<39.7). After adjusting for multiple confounders, the HR (95% CI) for a high PNI (≥39.7) was 0.732 (0.547, 0.978; = 0.03514), compared to a low PNI (<39.7). Regarding 90-day and one-year mortality, a similar trend was observed. In addition, a nonlinear association between PNI and 30-day mortality was found. Using recursive algorithm and two-piecewise linear regression model, inflection point (IP) was calculated, which was 49.4. On the right side of the IP, there was a positive relationship between PNI and 30-day mortality, and the effect size, 95% CI, and value were 1.04 (1.01, 1.07), = 0.0429, respectively. On the left of the IP, the effect size, 95% CI, and value were 0.97 (0.96, 0.99) and 0.0011, respectively.

Conclusions: The PNI was an independent predicting factor of 30-day, 90-day, and 1-year mortality of the critically ill patients with stroke. In addition, there was a U-shaped relationship between PNI and all-cause mortality of stroke patients. PNI was a risk factor for the outcome of stroke when PNI was >49.4, while PNI was a protective factor for outcome of stroke when PNI was <49.4.