Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 score is a predictor of prolonged hospitalizations after cardiac ablation procedures

Background Nutritional risk is a recognized factor of mortality, complications, and length of stay at a hospital in various medical conditions. This relationship was already proven in surgery, oncology, and selected cardiovascular diseases. Purpose This study aimed to analyze, if the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) score is a predictor of the hospitalization length and in-hospital convalescence period defined as the time from the procedure to discharge among patients undergoing cardiac ablations. Methods 265 patients who underwent cardiac ablation in 2023 were included in this retrospective study. The analyzed parameters included the overall length of stay and the time of the in-hospital convalescence after the ablation procedure. They were combined with the nutritional risk assessed with NRS 2002, body mass, and body mass index. The analysis was also performed in subgroups regarding the type of arrhythmia. Results The regression analysis revealed a significant impact of the NRS 2002 score on the overall length of stay (B=0.89, p=0.003) and the in-hospital convalescence time (B=0.57, p=0.02). Subgroup analysis revealed that this relationship was particularly strong in the atrial fibrillation patients (B=1.10, p=0.001 and (B=0.91, p=0.002 respectively), and in atrial arrhythmias for the overall length of stay (B=0.92, p=0.001), and ventricular arrhythmias for the convalescence time (B=0.76, p=0.002). Lower body mass index impacted the prolonged convalescence time (B= -0.05, p=0.03), mainly in the atrial fibrillation subgroup (B= -0.08, p=0.04) and atrial arrhythmias (B= -0.05, p=0.04). Conclusions Nutritional risk is a factor that impacts the length of stay and in-hospital convalescence in patients undergoing cardiac ablations, particularly in atrial fibrillation patients.