Prognostic effects of NRS 2002- and GLIM-guided nutritional intervention in patients undergoing intracranial tumor...

To evaluate whether perioperative nutritional intervention guided jointly by Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) and the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) improves nutritional status, postoperative complications, and quality of life in patients undergoing intracranial tumor surgery.

This non-randomized controlled study enrolled 120 adult patients who underwent intracranial tumor surgery in the Department of Neurosurgery of a tertiary hospital between January 2021 and June 2024. Patients admitted from January 2021 to December 2022 received conventional perioperative nursing care (control group, n = 60), whereas those admitted from January 2023 to June 2024 received individualized nutritional intervention guided by NRS 2002 and GLIM (intervention group, n = 60). The intervention incorporated local dietary practices and included dynamic preoperative nutritional monitoring, targeted protein supplementation, postoperative oral nutritional supplementation, and stepwise dietary transition management. Outcomes included postoperative nutritional indicators, nursing-related complications, length of stay, and quality of life.

At 1 month after surgery, the intervention group demonstrated significantly better nutritional indicators than the control group, including hemoglobin (128.5 ± 10.88 g/L), albumin (39.04 ± 6.25 g/L), and prealbumin (196.83 ± 21.30 mg/L) (all P < 0.05). The overall complication rate was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (1.7% vs. 40.0%, P < 0.05). At 3 months after surgery, patients in the intervention group had significantly higher scores for physical, emotional, cognitive, and social functioning, as well as global health status, and significantly lower symptom scores than those in the control group (all P < 0.05). Nutritional status was negatively correlated with functional quality-of-life domains (r = -0.636 to -0.363, all P < 0.05) and positively correlated with symptom burden (r = 0.256-0.778, all P < 0.05). The intervention group also had a shorter postoperative hospital stay.

Perioperative nutritional intervention guided by NRS 2002 and GLIM may optimize nutritional status, reduce postoperative complications, and improve postoperative recovery in patients undergoing intracranial tumor surgery. This approach appears clinically applicable in neurosurgical practice and merits further evaluation in multicenter randomized studies. Funding This study was supported by the Scientific Research Project of the Qinghai Provincial Health Commission (No. 2020-wjzdx-16).