Association of Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index Scores with Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis.

Abstract

Aims/Background The Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) is an effective tool for identifying malnutrition, and helps monitor the prognosis of patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. However, the association between the GNRI and cardiovascular or all-cause mortality in hemodialysis patients remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the correlation of the GNRI with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. Methods This study included 402 incident hemodialysis patients. Based on the first-dialysis GNRI quartile, the patients were divided into four groups: N1 (GNRI ≤85.04), N2 (GNRI 85.05-91.04), N3 (91.05-96.49), N4 (GNRI ≥96.5) groups. The risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality among the different GNRI groups was compared using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis through log-rank tests. Furthermore, Cox regression analysis was used to assess the association between the GNRI groups and all-cause mortality. Additionally, the predictive capability of the GNRI groups on the prognosis was evaluated by employing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results Patients in the N1 group exhibited a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality (p < 0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (p = 0.004) compared to the other groups. ROC curve analysis revealed that GNRI, age, and serum creatinine had moderate predictive value for mortality, with GNRI indicating an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.605 for all-cause mortality and 0.565 for cardiovascular mortality. Moreover, the N2 and N3 groups had a significantly reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality compared to the N1 group. Conclusion A lower GNRI is closely associated with a higher risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in hemodialysis patients.