COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF NUTRITIONAL STATUS SCORE IN ICU-HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS INDICATES HIGHER NUTRITIONAL RISK AMONG POST CABG SUBJECTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN THE NORTH OF IRAN

Objectives: The current cross-sectional study intended to provide a comparative evaluation of nutritional status in the intensive care unit (ICU)-hospitalized patients according to the reasons for admission. Methodology: A total of 258 patients hospitalized for >24-hour in the ICU between February 2020- July 2021 were included. The subjects were categorized into five categories: burned injury (n=27), COVID-19 or other respiratory disorders (n=64), post coronary artery bypass graft surgery (post-CABG) (n=50), trauma (n=57), and miscellaneous causes (n=60). A modified Nutrition Risk in Critically Ill (mNUTRIC) score was applied to explore the nutritional status of the patients. Results: On average, the patients were 58± 16 years old that 46% (n=119) of them were females. The mean± SD of mNUTRIC score among patients with burned 2±1 and COVID-19 or other respiratory disorders 2±1 tended to be significantly lower than the others, including post-CABG 3±0 and patients with miscellaneous causes 3±2 (p-value=0.001). According to mNUTRIC score classifications, the majority of those who were transferred to ICU with burn or COVID-19 or other respiratory disorders were at low nutritional risk (mNUTRIC score:0-<3) (66.70%, and 67.20%, respectively); whereas relatively all post CABG subjects were at intermediate nutritional risk (mNUTRIC score:3-<5) (n= 48, 96.00%). A greater proportion of subjects in the miscellaneous category (n=12, 20.00%) were at high nutritional risk (mNUTRIC score:5-9) (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: It was revealed that approximately all post CABG and those admitted to ICU with miscellaneous causes were at a higher risk for impaired nutritional status and may require more in-depth evaluation for providing earlier nutritional support.