[Association between the Controlling Nutritional Status score and long-term outcome in patients with acute heart failure].

Objective: To evaluate the nutritional status by the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score and its association with the long-term prognosis in patients with acute heart failure (AHF). Methods: This prospective monocentric study consecutively enrolled patients admitted to our hospital for AHF from April 2012 to May 2016. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on the CONUT score at admission: normal (0-1), mild malnutrition (2-4) and moderate-severe malnutrition (5-12) groups. Baseline information was obtained and recorded within 24 hours after admission. All patients were followed up every 3 months by outpatient visit or telephone call until March 2019. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves and log-rank test were used to compare all-cause mortality between groups. Variables showing statistical significance in the univariate analysis were incorporated into multivariate Cox regression model to analyze the independent risk factors for all-cause mortality after discharge. Results: A total of 396 patients were enrolled in this study, including 114 patients with normal nutritional status, 200 patients with mild malnutrition and 82 patients with moderate-severe malnutrition. One hundred and fifty-eight patients died during a median follow-up of 34 (18, 46) months. The mortality was 32.4% (37/114), 39% (78/200) and 52.4% (43/82) in normal, mild malnutrition and moderate-severe malnutrition groups, respectively. The mortality was significantly higher in the moderate-severe malnutrition group than in normal nutrition group (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in mortality between normal and mild malnutrition group as well as between mild and moderate-severe malnutrition group (both P>0.05). Kaplan-Meier curves indicated that patients with high CONUT score group was at higher risk of all-cause mortality compared with those with low CONUT score (P=0.002). Cox proportional hazard analyses showed that the risk of all-cause mortality of moderate-severe malnutrition group was significantly higher than that of normal nutrition group (HR =1.648, 95%CI 1.021-2.660, P=0.041). Conclusions: The CONUT score of patients with AHF at admission is associated with the long-term prognosis. High CONUT score is an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality in AHF patients after discharge.

Clinical observation and quality of life in terms of nasal sinusitis after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: long-term results from different nasal irrigation techniques.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between nasal irrigation techniques (NIT) and the survival rate and the quality of life (QOL) in patients with nasal sinusitis (NS). METHODS: We studied data from 1134 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who received radical radiotherapy, which were randomly divided into three groups (A, B and C). Group A used nasal irrigator; Group B used homemade nasal irrigation (NI) connector combined with enemator; and Group C used nasal sprayer. The clinical effects, 5-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were observed. Furthermore, the QOL in patients with NS was evaluated using the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 20. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 69 months. The 5-year OS and PFS were 80.5% and 73.2%, respectively, for all patients. There was no significant difference in OS, PFS, xerostomia and neck skin toxicity grade 3 and greater among groups. There was no difference among groups. The incidence of NS was the highest in group C. CONCLUSION: The symptoms of NS seriously affected the QOL period of 1 year. Group C showed no improvement during the follow-up period, which for A and B, by contrast, had after 1 year. Although the exact mechanism remains to be explored in NIT, our findings suggest that patients with NPC should nasal irrigate for 2 years after radiotherapy. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Our study shows that a nasal irrigator is necessary for patients with NPC for a high QOL in terms of NS.