Phase Angle and Onodera's Prognostic Nutritional Index in critically ill patients

Area of Science:

• Critical Care Medicine
• Nutritional Science
• Biophysics

Background:

• Assessing severity and nutritional prognosis in critical patients is crucial for guiding therapeutic decisions and improving outcomes.
• Nutritional parameters are linked to morbidity, mortality, and overall patient prognosis in intensive care settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Phase Angle (PA) and Onodera's Prognostic Nutritional Index (OPNI) for determining nutritional prognosis in critically ill patients.
• To explore the relationship between PA and OPNI with patient severity, hospitalization duration, and mortality.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on adult ICU patients.
• Severity was assessed using APACHE II, SOFA, and SAPS 3 scores; hospitalization length and outcomes were recorded.
• Bioimpedance analysis was used to calculate the Phase Angle (PA).

Main Results:

• The study included 35 patients; mortality was 17%.
• Mean PA (4.2 ± 1.0) and OPNI (38.7 ± 8.3) were below reference values.
• Lower PA (< 5.1) was associated with higher severity scores (APACHE II, SOFA), longer hospitalization, and increased mortality. PA correlated inversely with severity and hospitalization length.

Conclusions:

• The Phase Angle (PA) is effective for assessing nutritional prognosis in critically ill patients.
• Further research is needed to validate the use of OPNI in this patient population.