Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form as a mortality risk factor in patients with respiratory disease undergoing urgent hospitalization

Abstract

Background Studies of nutritional status in geriatric patients with respiratory diseases are limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the mortality risk of older patients undergoing urgent hospitalization for various respiratory diseases. Methods This was a retrospective study of patients aged ≥ 65 years with respiratory diseases who were urgently hospitalized between April 2022 and March 2024. The Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA-SF) was evaluated at the time of urgent admission, and the risk of malnutritional status was defined by the MNA-SF score of 0–10. Biomarkers of inflammation and acute respiratory failure such as neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS), ROX index, and the pulse oximetric saturation (SpO₂)/ fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO₂) [S/F] ratio were calculated and analyzed as risk factors of in-hospital mortality. Results A total of 99 consecutive patients were enrolled in the study with median age of 78 (IQR: 73–85) years. Twenty-six patients (26.3%) died during hospitalization, and the mean period until death was 19 (IQR: 11–37) days. Univariate analysis demonstrated that older age (> 79), low S/F ratio (< 315), low ROX (< 8.3), low NLR (< 7.7) and low MNA-SF (< 11) were associated with in-hospital mortality, multivariate analysis revealed that older age and low MNA-SF were independent predictors. Conclusions MNA-SF is a mortality risk factor in older patients undergoing urgent hospitalization for various respiratory diseases.