Malnutrition universal screening tool predicts postoperative complications following major head and neck cancer surgery.

BACKGROUND: Head and neck cancer patients are at risk for malnutrition, which can impact postoperative outcomes. This study evaluates the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) to predict outcomes in major head and neck surgeries. METHODS: A retrospective chart review included 275 major surgical procedures performed on 242 patients over the age of 18 years between May 2015 and May 2020. RESULTS: The majority of patients had a MUST score of zero (68.7%). Just under 17% scored 2 or greater indicating malnourishment. Having a MUST score of 2 or higher was associated with occurrence of a postoperative complication (p < 0.001). Patients with alcohol use disorder or depression were 5.2 (CI: 2.0-13.7, p = 0.001) and 2.75 (CI 1.1-7.0; p = 0.033) times more likely to develop a postoperative complication, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Malnutrition and comorbidities were associated with complications in our surgical cohort. MUST is a novel tool to identify patients who may benefit from nutritional interventions.

Evaluation of Early Screening for Diabetes Mellitus in Pregnancy with Hemoglobin A1c.

Early diabetes screening is recommended for high-risk pregnant women risk via a 1-hour glucose challenge test (1-hour GCT). Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) can be obtained with initial obstetric laboratories. We sought to examine the relationship between HbA1c and 1-hour GCT for early diabetes screening in pregnancy. This is a retrospective cohort study of 204 high-risk pregnant women who underwent early HbA1c and 1-hour GCT. Simple logistic regression analysis was performed to predict abnormal 1-hour GCT and diagnosis of diabetes using HbA1c. A total of 158 (77.5%), 44 (21.5%), and 2 (1%) women had HbA1c of less than 5.7, 5.7 to 6.4, and 6.5% or higher, respectively. Seven of 158 (4.4%) women with HbA1c less than 5.7% and 8 of 44 (18.2%) with HbA1c of 5.7 to 6.4% had a diagnosis of diabetes. A positive correlation between early HbA1c and 1-hour GCT was detected. Logistic regression showed HbA1c significantly predicted the risk of diabetes but was not a good predictor of abnormal 1-hour GCT. HbA1c of 5.5% or less had a 97% or higher negative predictive value for early diabetes in pregnancy. There is a positive correlation between HbA1c and 1-hour GCT for the early screening of diabetes in pregnancy. Women with early HbA1c ≤ 5.5% could forego further testing in early pregnancy.