Assessment of Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 as predictors of long hospital stay in patients with upper...

Among patients admitted to the gastroenterology ward, especially those with upper gastrointestinal (UGI) diseases, malnutrition is markedly prevalent. Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002) is widely used globally to assess the nutritional risk of hospitalized patients.

A retrospective, single-center study that included 896 patients with UGI diseases was performed in the Department of Esophagogastric‌, Senior Department of Gastroenterology, the First Medical Center of PLA General Hospital. Data from each admitted patient, including demographic information, lifestyle factors, primary diagnosis, comorbidities, laboratory test values at admission and length of hospital stay (LOHS), were extracted from the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. An LOHS longer than the 75th percentile was defined as a long LOHS. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify independent risk factors for long LOHS. Subsequently, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess the discriminative ability of the independent factors calculated for predicting long LOHS.

Among the 896 inpatients in our study, 586 were males and 310 were females, with a median age of 61.0 years. The patients had a median LOHS of 14.0 days (Q1-Q3, 10.3-19.0 days). The inpatients whose LOHS was more than 19 days were classified into the long LOHS group, while others were classified into the non-long LOHS group. On the basis of the univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis results, both the NRS2002 score and serum albumin level were identified as independent risk factors for long LOHS. An NRS2002 score ≥2 points (optimal cutoff value determined by maximum Youden's index) reflected good predictive value, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.721 according to the ROC analysis.

In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate that the serum albumin (ALB) concentration and NRS2002 score are predictors of long LOHS in patients with UGI diseases. These findings emphasize the importance of assessing nutritional status in clinical management and may provide guidance for improving the treatment outcomes of patients with UGI diseases.