Malnutrition is often associated with poor prognosis of several illnesses. However, its prevalence and prognostic effect in patients with the acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are not well studied. This study aims to examine the prevalence and prognostic outcomes of malnutrition in patients with ACS.
This study included a total of 5,062 consecutive patients with ACS. The primary outcomes of the study were malnutrition risk, all-cause mortality, and the risk of cardiovascular events, as reported by the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score, the Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), and the Nutritional Risk Index (NRI).
The CONUT, PNI, and NRI scores suggested that 11.2%, 8.9%, and 39.5% of patients with ACS were moderate-severely malnourished, respectively. Moreover, 71.8% of the participants were mildly malnourished with at least one score. The risk of malnutrition was strongly linked with the BMI score, with 8.4-36.7% of participants with a BMI score of less than 25 being moderate to severely malnourished. Malnutrition was also associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR 2.02).
The research concluded that malnutrition was common among patients with ACS, especially among those with lower BMI scores. The findings also suggested that malnutrition was strongly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events.
Ref: https://www.onlinejacc.org/content/76/7/828
