Association of nutritional screening tools with 6-month outcomes in ischemic stroke patients: A retrospective study

Nutritional screening tools based on laboratory examinations are relatively objective and available indicators. However, few studies have investigated whether malnutrition severity might be associated with adverse outcomes at the platform recovery period of 6 mo and differentiated in acute ischemic stroke patients with or without intravenous thrombolysis. Therefore, we assessed the association between malnutrition and 6-mo outcomes in both intravenous thrombolysis and non-intravenous thrombolysis patients.

We retrospectively recruited 138 acute ischemic stroke patients who received intravenous thrombolysis and 311 who did not. The Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index, prognostic nutritional index, and Controlling Nutritional Status were used to assess nutritional status. The concordance between the 3 malnutrition screening tools was investigated with the κ statistic. Subgroups analyses were conducted to assess the correlation between malnutrition and functional outcomes in intravenous thrombolysis and non-intravenous thrombolysis patients.

A total of 17 (6.44%) patients were suffering from malnutrition, as indicated by the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index, prognostic nutritional index, and Controlling Nutritional Status jointly. Moderate-severe malnutrition evaluated by the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index was significantly associated with poor functional outcome (odds ratio = 4.074; P = 0.003). Patients in the good functional outcome group (modified Rankin scale scores = 0 to 2) had a higher proportion of intravenous thrombolysis treatment (32.79% versus 21.25%; P = 0.043). Furthermore, subgroup analyses found no significant interactions between malnourished levels and intravenous thrombolysis treatment (P interaction > 0.05).

The Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index, over ≤24 h, compared with the prognostic nutritional index and Controlling Nutritional Status, provided timely signals to improve acute ischemic stroke patients' nutritional status. Also, nutritional status might not lead todifferent 6-mo outcomes, whether or not patients received intravenous thrombolysis treatment.