Malnutrition risk in hospitalized patients measured with Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 tool and its association with in-hospital mortality.

Objective: Malnutrition is related to increased morbidity, mortality, and costs. NRS-2002 is a practical malnutrition risk (MR) screening tool approved by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) for inpatients. We aimed to reveal the inpatient MR using NRS-2002, and to examine the relationship between MR and in-hospital mortality.

Patients And Methods: The results of inpatient nutritional screening in a tertiary referral center university hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The NRS-2002 test was used for defining MR. Comorbidities, initial and follow-up anthropometric data, NRS-2002 score, food intake, weight status, and laboratory analysis were examined. In-hospital mortality was noted.

Results: Data from 5,999 patients were evaluated. On admission, 49.8% of the patients had MR, and 17.3% had severe MR (sMR). MR-sMR was higher in geriatric patients (62.0-28.5%). Those with dementia had the highest MR (71%), followed by stroke (66%) and malignancy (62%). Age and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) were higher, and body weight, BMI, serum albumin, and creatinine were lower in patients with MR. Multivariate analysis showed that age, albumin, CRP, congestive heart failure (CHF), malignancy, dementia, and stroke were independently associated with MR. The overall mortality rate during hospitalization was 7.9%. MR was associated with mortality regardless of serum CRP, albumin, body mass index (BMI), and age. Half of the patients received nutritional treatment (NT). NT resulted in preserved or increased body weight and albumin levels among patients and the geriatric group with MR.

Conclusions: AMR revealed that NRS-2002 is positive in approximately half of the hospitalized patients, which is associated with in-hospital mortality independent of the underlying diseases. NT is related to weight gain and increased serum albumin.