Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Nutritional Risk Screening System 2002 (Nrs-2002) in Covid-19 Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit Publisher Pubmed

Summary: Research suggests poor nutrition raises death risk in COVID-19 ICU patients, highlighting diet’s role in recovery. #COVID19 #Nutrition

Alikiaii B¹ ; Heidari Z^{2, 3} ; Fazeli A¹ ; Rahimi Varposhti M¹ ; Moradi Farsani D¹ ; Fattahpour S⁴ ; Rafiee S^{5, 6} ; Bagherniya M^{1, 5, 6}
Source: International Journal of Clinical Practice Published:2021

Abstract

Background: Nutritional status of patients with COVID-19 can affect the recovery process of patients; however, no nutritional scale was introduced to evaluate the nutritional status of the patients. Thus, the main objective of this study was to examine the usefulness of Nutritional status-2002 (NRS-2002) among COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 73 patients with definitive corona diagnosis admitted to the ICUs of Al-Zahra hospital, Isfahan, Iran in October 2020 to January 2021 were recruited. Dietary intake, NRS-2002, demographic, anthropometric and biochemical indices of patients were recorded. Results: The majority of patients were at risk for moderate (69.9%) to severe (12.3%) malnutrition. Daily calorie intake (P =.001) and albumin (P =.001) levels in deceased patients were significantly lower than the recovered group. A direct correlation between NRS-2002 and age (P <.001) and an inverse correlation with daily calorie intake (P =.002), albumin (P =.05) and PaO2 (P =.034) was found. Moreover, there is a strong correlation between NRS-2002 score and chance of death among COVID-19 patients (OR=34.5, 95%CI:(5.2 - 228.93), P-value<0.001). Likewise, the levels of bilirubin direct (OR=8, 95%CI:(1.30 - 49.38), P-value=0.025) and creatine-phosphokinase (OR=0.9, 95%CI:(0.99 - 1.00), P-value=0.035) have a significant direct association with chance of death. Conclusion: Results showed patients with COVID-19 admitted to the ICU did not have appropriate nutritional status and mortality was higher among patients with lower amounts of the serum albumin and daily calorie intakes. Furthermore, there is a strong association between the NRS-2002 index and the chance of mortality in these patients. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd