Modified R-GLIM Score Is a Good Prognostic Tool to Predict a Long-Term Prognosis in Poor Conditioned Elderly Patients...

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Pulmonology
• Clinical Nutrition

Background:

• Prognostic guidelines for pneumonia often lack specific poor prognostic factors for long-term survival.
• Identifying predictors for 1- and 2-year survival in aspiration pneumonia is crucial for clinical management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate malnutrition, defined by the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria, as a poor prognostic factor for 1- and 2-year survival in aspiration pneumonia patients.
• To investigate the combined effect of malnutrition and respiratory rate (RR) on survival outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of 56 community-onset aspiration pneumonia patients admitted to Aichi Medical University between 2019-2020.
• Patients received nutrition support team (NST) intervention.
• Malnutrition assessed using GLIM criteria; patients categorized by RR (≥22 vs. <22) and malnutrition status.

Main Results:

• Higher RR and malnutrition were more frequent in non-survivors.
• Patients with both high RR (≥22) and malnutrition had significantly shorter 1-year (p=0.009) and 2-year (p=0.004) overall survival (OS) compared to other groups.
• High RR was identified as an independent poor prognostic factor for 1- and 2-year survival.

Conclusions:

• A combined score of higher RR and malnutrition (modified R-GLIM score) is an independent poor prognostic factor for 1- and 2-year survival.
• This finding is particularly relevant for super-elderly patients (over 80 years) with aspiration pneumonia.