Impact of the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index on In-hospital Thrombosis and Mortality in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19

Abstract

Objective To determine whether nutritional status is related to the incidence of thrombosis and mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods A total of 496 consecutive patients who were admitted and diagnosed with COVID-19 between April 2020 and March 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) on admission was calculated as follows: 14.89×serum albumin (g/dL)+41.7×body mass index/22. Patients were divided into two groups according to the median GNRI values. The endpoint of this study was a composite of in-hospital thrombotic events and mortality. Results The median GNRI value was 99.3. Patients in the low GNRI (≤99.3) group were older (75±21 vs. 51±20 years, p<0.001) and more likely to be female (55.6% vs. 41.1%, p<0.05). In addition, patients with a low GNRI often exhibited hypertension (43.5% vs. 28.2%, p<0.001) and had a history of cardiovascular disease (34.3% vs. 14.5%, p<0.001). Under these conditions, the median D-dimer levels on admission were significantly higher in patients with a low GNRI (0.90 μg/mL; interquartile range (IQR), 0.49-1.64 μg/mL) than those with high GNRI (0.36 μg/mL; IQR, 0.26-0.51 μg/mL, p<0.001). During hospitalization, the composite endpoint was observed in 32 patients. In the logistic regression analysis, a low GNRI was significantly associated with the composite endpoint adjusted using inverse probability of treatment weighting (odds ratio, 3.24; 95% confidence interval: 1.51-6.93, p<0.05). Conclusion Assessment of the GNRI provides useful information for predicting in-hospital thrombosis and mortality in COVID-19 patients.