Impact of Malnutrition on Clinical Outcomes of Acutely Hospitalised Heart Failure Patients at Two Tertiary Hospitals in Australia: An Observational Study

Yogesh Sharma, Chris Horwood, Rashmi Shahi, Paul Hakendorf, Campbell Thompson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition is common in patients with heart failure (HF) but is often neglected, despite guidelines suggesting that all hospitalised patients should undergo nutritional screening within 24-hours of admission. 

Aims: This study investigated the nutritional screening rates and determined the immediate and long-term clinical outcomes in patients with HF admitted at two tertiary hospitals in Australia. 

Methods: Nutritional screening was assessed by the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) completion rates. Patients were classified into two categories based on their MUST scores (0=low malnutrition risk and ≥1=at risk of malnutrition). Propensity-score-matching (PSM) was used to match 20 variables depending upon the risk of malnutrition. Clinical outcomes included the days-alive-and-out-of-hospital at 90 days of discharge (DAOH90), length of hospital stay, in-hospital, 30-day and 180-day mortality and 30-day readmissions. 

Results: There were 5,734 HF admissions between 2013–2020, of whom, only 789 (13.8%) patients underwent MUST screening. The mean (SD) age was 76.2 (14.0) years and 51.9% were males. Five-hundred and fifty-four (554) (70.2%) patients were at low malnutrition risk and 235 (29.8%) at risk of malnutrition. In HF patients, who were at risk of malnutrition, the DAOH90 were lower by 5.9 days (95% CI -11.49 to -0.42, p=0.035) and 180-day mortality was significantly worse (coefficient 0.10, 95% CI 0.02–0.18, p=0.007) compared to those who were at low risk of malnutrition. However, other clinical outcomes were similar between the two groups. 

Conclusion: Nutrition screening is poor in hospitalised HF patients and long-term but not short-term clinical outcomes were worse in malnourished HF patients.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)330-337
Number of pages8
JournalHeart Lung and Circulation
Volume32
Issue number3
Early online date22 Nov 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023

Keywords

  • Days alive and out of hospital
  • Heart failure
  • Length of hospital stay
  • Malnutrition
  • Mortality
  • Readmissions

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