Reporting completeness of nutrition and diet-related randomised controlled trials protocols.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There is a need to consolidate reporting guidance for nutrition randomised controlled trial (RCT) protocols. The reporting completeness in nutrition RCT protocols and study characteristics associated with adherence to SPIRIT and TIDieR reporting guidelines are unknown. We, therefore, assessed reporting completeness and its potential predictors in a random sample of published nutrition and diet-related RCT protocols. METHODS: We conducted a meta-research study of 200 nutrition and diet-related RCT protocols published in 2019 and 2021 (aiming to consider periods before and after the start of the COVID pandemic). Data extraction included bibliometric information, general study characteristics, compliance with 122 questions corresponding to items and subitems in the SPIRIT and TIDieR checklists combined, and mention to these reporting guidelines in the publications. We calculated the proportion of protocols reporting each item and the frequency of items reported for each protocol. We investigated associations between selected publication aspects and reporting completeness using linear regression analysis. RESULTS: The majority of protocols included adults and elderly as their study population (n = 73; 36.5%), supplementation as intervention (n = 96; 48.0%), placebo as comparator (n = 89; 44.5%), and evaluated clinical status as the outcome (n = 80; 40.0%). Most protocols described a parallel RCT (n = 188; 94.0%) with a superiority framework (n = 141; 70.5%). Overall reporting completeness was 52.0% (SD = 10.8%). Adherence to SPIRIT items ranged from 0% (n = 0) (data collection methods) to 98.5% (n = 197) (eligibility criteria). Adherence to TIDieR items ranged from 5.5% (n = 11) (materials used in the intervention) to 98.5% (n = 197) (description of the intervention). The multivariable regression analysis suggests that a higher number of authors [ß = 0.53 (95%CI: 0.28-0.78)], most recent published protocols [ß = 3.19 (95%CI: 0.24-6.14)], request of reporting guideline checklist during the submission process by the journal [ß = 6.50 (95%CI: 2.56-10.43)] and mention of SPIRIT by the authors [ß = 5.15 (95%CI: 2.44-7.86)] are related to higher reporting completeness scores. CONCLUSIONS: Reporting completeness in a random sample of 200 diet or nutrition-related RCT protocols was low. Number of authors, year of publication, self-reported adherence to SPIRIT, and journals' endorsement of reporting guidelines seem to be positively associated with reporting completeness in nutrition and diet-related RCT protocols.

The association between reduced calf and mid-arm circumferences and ICU mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Patients with COVID-19 are at a high risk of malnutrition caused by inflammatory syndrome and persistent hypermetabolism, which may affect clinical outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in nutritional status indicators between two time points of nutritional assessments of COVID-19 patients during their stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). Moreover, the study also assessed the association of nutritional status with ICU mortality. METHODS: This cohort study included retrospective data of adult patients admitted to a public hospital ICU in southern Brazil, between March and September 2020. These participants with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis received nutritional assessment within the first 72 h after ICU admission. The anthropometric measurements collected included mid-arm circumference (MAC) and calf circumference (CC). The percentage (%) of MAC adequacy was calculated, and values < 50th percentile for sex and age were considered low. CC values of ≤33 cm for women and ≤34 cm for men were indicative of reduced muscle mass. Data on the date of discharge from the ICU and mortality outcome were collected. RESULTS: A total of 249 patients were included (53.4% men, 62.2 ± 13.9 years of age, SOFA severity score 9.6 ± 3.5). Of these, 22.7 and 39.1% had reduced MAC and CC at ICU admission, respectively. In these participants, weight, MAC, CC, and % MAC decreased significantly from the first to second nutritional assessment (p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between survivors and non-survivors. Patients with reduced CC (HR = 2.63; 95% CI 1.65-4.18) or reduced MAC (HR = 2.11; 95% CI 1.37-3.23) at the first nutritional assessment had approximately twice the risk of death in the ICU than those with normal CC and normal MAC, regardless of the severity assessed by the SOFA score and age. CONCLUSION: Reduced MAC and CC values were identified in approximately 20 and 40% of COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU, respectively. Additionally, these indicators of nutritional depletion were associated with an approximately 2-fold increase in the risk of ICU mortality. A significant reduction in anthropometric indicators during the first weeks of ICU stay confirmed the deterioration of nutritional status in these patients, although this was not associated with mortality.

AND-ASPEN and ESPEN consensus, and GLIM criteria for malnutrition identification in AECOPD patients: a longitudinal study comparing concurrent and predictive validity.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Malnutrition in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is prevalent and usually assessed by body mass index (BMI), which can lead to misdiagnosis. The subjective global assessment (SGA) is the reference method for this diagnose in hospitalized patients. In the last decade, new tools have emerged Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics-American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition [AND-ASPEN], European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism [ESPEN], and Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition [GLIM]). Therefore, this study aimed to assess the concurrent and predictive validity of these tools in acute exacerbated COPD (AECOPD) patients. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Prospective cohort study with hospitalized AECOPD patients. Malnutrition was diagnosed by SGA (reference method), AND-ASPEN, ESPEN, and GLIM consensus. Hospital length of stay (LOS) and mortality were the outcomes evaluated. RESULTS: In 241 patients (46.5% males; 68.3 ± 10.2 years), malnutrition was found in 50.0% by SGA, 54.4% by AND-ASPEN, 20.2% by ESPEN, and 47.8% by GLIM. AND-ASPEN had the best accuracy (AUC = 0.837; 95% CI 0.783-0.841) and concordance (kappa = 0.674) with SGA and it was an independent predictor of prolonged LOS (OR = 1.73; 95% CI 1.01-3.37). ESPEN consensus did not agree with SGA, but was associated with prolonged LOS (OR = 2.57 95% CI, 1.27-5.20). The GLIM had good concordance (kappa = 0.533) and accuracy with SGA (AUC = 0.768; 95% CI 0.701-0.835), but was not associated with outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The AND-ASPEN was the most accurate tool for diagnosing malnutrition in AECOPD patients and was an independent predictor of prolonged LOS.

Prevalence, associated factors, and prognostic value of sarcopenia in patients with acute exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A cohort study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Besides pulmonary dysfunctions, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) also frequently have systemic comorbidities. Among these, sarcopenia is associated with worse pulmonary function and clinical outcomes. Patients with acute exacerbated COPD (AECOPD) have increased systemic inflammation, which can intensify muscle dysfunction. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of sarcopenia in AECOPD patients and assess the associated factors and their prognostic value. As a secondary aim, we also assessed the performance of calf circumference (CC) to diagnose this condition. METHODS: Prospective cohort study in a Brazilian public hospital with AECOPD patients. Sarcopenia was assessed according to the recommendations from the European Working Group of Sarcopenia in Older People Consensus 2 (EWGSOP2); namely, reduced handgrip strength (HGS) combined with low fat-free mass index (FFMI) or CC. Data on clinical, nutritional, and sociodemographic features were collected. The evaluated clinical outcomes were the length of hospital stay (LOS), admission in intensive care units (ICUs), and in-hospital death. RESULTS: Among 208 patients (54.8% females, 67.6 ± 10.1 years) evaluated, 16.3% presented sarcopenia. Malnutrition (odds ratio [OR] = 16.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.58-76.08), and disease stages III-IV (OR = 4.05 95%CI 1.20-13.76) were associated with the presence of sarcopenia. The CC showed satisfactory performance in diagnosing sarcopenia as compared to FFMI as a marker of reduced muscle mass (kappa = 0.703; area under the receiver operating characteristic [AUC ROC] curve = 0.886; 95%CI 0.811-0.961). Sarcopenia was not associated with clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION: Almost 20% of patients in this study presented sarcopenia. Malnutrition and advanced Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stage were associated with increased chances of this condition in AECOPD patients. Reduced HSG combined with low CC may be an alternative when FFMI not be obtained for sarcopenia diagnosis.

Low standardized phase angle predicts prolonged hospitalization in critically ill patients.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the performance of phase angle (PA) in identifying malnutrition and in predicting clinical outcomes in critical adult patients. METHODS: A longitudinal observational study with secondary data from Nossa Senhora da Conceição Hospital (Porto Alegre) and Risoleta Tolentino Neves Hospital (Belo Horizonte) involving critically ill patients assessed for nutritional status by subjective global assessment (SGA) and by anthropometry in the first 48 h after admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). The PA was evaluated from the realization of the bioelectrical impedance. Patients were followed up until hospital discharge to verify the other outcomes of interest: death, hospitalization time and in ICU, and duration of mechanical ventilation. RESULTS: A total of 169 patients (60.3 ± 16.7 years, 56.7% men, 46.7% surgical) were followed for 23.0 (14.0-40.8) days. The accuracy of standardized PA (SPA) reduced in identifying malnourished patients was 60.6% (ROC curve AUC = 0.606, 95% CI 0.519-0.694). Reduced SPA increased in about three times the chance of having malnutrition (OR = 2.79, 95% CI 1.39-5.61) and 2 times the chance of prolonged hospital stay (OR = 2.27; 95% CI 1.18-4.34) in an adjusted analysis for the origin hospital and for the severity score. CONCLUSION: Reduced SPA showed satisfactory predictive validity for malnutrition and prolonged hospital stay in critically ill patients, reinforcing the applicability of BIA in the routine of nutritional care in ICU, since it is a simple, fast and low cost method.

Subjective Global Assessment Can Be Performed in Critically Ill Surgical Patients as a Predictor of Poor Clinical Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: There is limited evidence on the applicability of subjective global assessment (SGA) in critically ill patients, despite its good performance in diagnosing undernutrition in clinical and surgical patients. Our aim was to evaluate the association between SGA and anthropometric measures and the performance of SGA in predicting clinical outcomes and mortality in critically ill surgical patients. METHODS: This observational prospective study was carried out with patients admitted to the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) of a Brazilian hospital. Nutrition assessment comprised anthropometric measures (weight and height for body mass index [BMI] calculation, mid-arm circumference [MAC] and calf circumference [CC]), and the SGA. Patients were followed up until hospital discharge for measurement of the following outcomes: length of stay (LOS), SICU LOS, and hospital mortality. RESULTS: This study included 76 surgical patients admitted to an SICU (64.9% males; 87% white ethnicity; mean age, 60.36 ± 16.24 years). According to the SGA, the prevalence of undernutrition was 60.5% (moderate undernutrition = 38.2%; severe undernutrition = 22.4%), and well-nourished 39.0%. Patients with severe undernutrition had lower values of current weight, BMI, MAC, and CC compared with well-nourished patients. The presence of undernutrition increased the risk of LOS >31 days by 2.57 (1.38-4.77) times, but it was not associated with mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with severe undernutrition had lower current weight, BMI, MAC, and CC compared with well-nourished patients. Undernutrition did not increase the risk of death; however, it did increase the relative risk for a longer hospital stay by 2.5.

Thickness of the adductor pollicis muscle: Accuracy in predicting malnutrition and length of intensive care unit stay in critically ill surgical patients: Thickness of the adductor pollicis muscle in surgical critically patients.

BACKGROUNDS & AIMS: new techniques for assessment of nutritional status of critically ill and surgical patients have been investigated to overcome inherent limitations of conventional method. The current study aimed to evaluate the ability of thickness of the adductor pollicis muscle (TAPM) in detecting malnutrition and predicting morbidity and mortality in critically ill surgical patients. METHODS: cohort study of adult patients, assessed within the 48 h of admission to the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a public hospital. TAPM measurements of the non-dominant hand were performed with patients lying supine. TAPM values lower than the 5th percentile for age and sex were adopted to identify malnutrition. Patients were followed up until discharge for measurement of the following parameters: length of ICU stay, time on mechanical ventilation, length of hospital stay, and hospital mortality. RESULTS: fifty-nine surgical ICU patients, with mean age of 60.0 ± 17.4 years were included in the current study. There was a positive, weak-to-moderate correlation between TAPM and anthropometric indicators (r = 0.338 to r = 0.579; p < 0.01). The ability of TAPM in identifying patients with malnutrition (diagnosed by global subjective assessment) was assessed by ROC curve analysis, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.611 (95%CI: 0.459-0.762; p = 0.151) was found. TAPM < p5 increased the risk of ICU length of stay >3 days (RR = 2.92; 95%CI 1.09-7.81; p = 0.032). Relative frequencies of malnourished and well-nourished patients according to TAPM were not different between survivors and non-survivors (p = 0.814). CONCLUSION: TAPM showed unsatisfactory accuracy in predicting malnutrition. Although TAPM was not a good mortality predictor, reduced TAPM (< p5) values increased the risk of a prolonged ICU stay (>3 days).

Nutritional Assessment Score: A new tool derived from Subjective Global Assessment for hospitalized adults.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: There is no method to be used as a reference standard for nutritional assessment. This study aims to develop and verify the performance of a new tool, based on the Item Response Theory (IRT), from the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) questionnaire, in hospitalized adult patients. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study, composed by secondary database, formed by patients included from October 2005 to June 2006. The new tool presented was developed through the usage of cumulative models from the IRT. Out of 1503 evaluated patients, 2/3 were randomly selected to the development sample of the new tool and 1/3 to the performance verification sample. RESULTS: After item adjustments, the "Nutritional Assessment Score" (NAS) was proposed, with reduced number of questions, and, in comparison to SGA, less polytomic items. NAS demonstrates association to variables that are clinically relevant (hospital mortality, long hospital stay, serum albumin and body mass index) and has shown itself to be more precise to patients with the worst degrees of nutritional status. CONCLUSIONS: Results point to the validation of the NAS in detecting, accurately, the nutritional status of hospitalized patients.

The New European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Definition of Malnutrition: Application for Nutrition Assessment and Prediction of Morbimortality in an Emergency Service.

BACKGROUND: Recently, the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) provided novel consensus criteria for malnutrition diagnosis. This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of this instrument in combination with different nutrition screening tools (1) to identify malnutrition and (2) to predict morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Observational prospective study in 750 adults admitted to the emergency service of a tertiary public hospital. Subjective Global Assessment (SGA-reference method) and the new ESPEN criteria were used to assess nutrition status of patients, who were initially screened for nutrition risk using 4 different tools. Outcome measures included length of hospital stay, occurrence of infection, and incidence of death during hospitalization, analyzed by logistic regression. RESULTS: There was a lack of agreement between the SGA and ESPEN definition of malnutrition, regardless of the nutrition screening tool applied previously (κ = -0.050 to 0.09). However, when Malnutrition Screening Tool and Nutritional Risk Screening-2002 (NRS-2002) were used as the screening tool, malnourished patients according to ESPEN criteria showed higher probability of infection (relative risk [RR], 1.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-2.31 and RR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.37-3.10, respectively), and when the NRS-2002 was used, the risk for death was 2.7 times higher (hazard ratio, 2.69; 95% CI, 1.07-6.81) in malnourished patients than in well-nourished patients. CONCLUSION: Although the new ESPEN criteria had a poor diagnostic value, it seems to be a prognostic tool among hospitalized patients, especially when used in combination with the NRS-2002.

Nutritional Risk Screening 2002, Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire, Malnutrition Screening Tool, and Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool Are Good Predictors of Nutrition Risk in an Emergency Service.

BACKGROUND: There is an international consensus that nutrition screening be performed at the hospital; however, there is no "best tool" for screening of malnutrition risk in hospitalized patients. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate (1) the accuracy of the MUST (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool), MST (Malnutrition Screening Tool), and SNAQ (Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire) in comparison with the NRS-2002 (Nutritional Risk Screening 2002) to identify patients at risk of malnutrition and (2) the ability of these nutrition screening tools to predict morbidity and mortality. METHODS: A specific questionnaire was administered to complete the 4 screening tools. Outcomes measures included length of hospital stay, transfer to the intensive care unit, presence of infection, and incidence of death. RESULTS: A total of 752 patients were included. The nutrition risk was 29.3%, 37.1%, 33.6%, and 31.3% according to the NRS-2002, MUST, MST, and SNAQ, respectively. All screening tools showed satisfactory performance to identify patients at nutrition risk (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve between 0.765-0.808). Patients at nutrition risk showed higher risk of very long length of hospital stay as compared with those not at nutrition risk, independent of the tool applied (relative risk, 1.35-1.78). Increased risk of mortality (2.34 times) was detected by the MUST. CONCLUSION: The MUST, MST, and SNAQ share similar accuracy to the NRS-2002 in identifying risk of malnutrition, and all instruments were positively associated with very long hospital stay. In clinical practice, the 4 tools could be applied, and the choice for one of them should be made per the particularities of the service.

Subjective global assessment of nutritional status ­ A systematic review of the literature.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) is a nutritional assessment tool widely used in hospital clinical practice, even though it is not exempted of limitations in relation to its use. This systematic review intended to update knowledge on the performance of SGA as a method for the assessment of the nutritional status of hospitalized adults. METHODS: PubMed data base was consulted, using the search term "subjective global assessment". Studies published in English, Portuguese or Spanish, between 2002 and 2012 were selected, excluding those not found in full, letters to the editor, pilot studies, narrative reviews, studies with n < 30, studies with population younger than 18 years of age, research with non-hospitalized populations or those which used a modified version of the SGA. RESULTS: Of 454 eligible studies, 110 presented eligibility criteria. After applying the exclusion criteria, 21 studies were selected, 6 with surgical patients, 7 with clinical patients, and 8 with both. Most studies demonstrated SGA performance similar or better than the usual assessment methods for nutritional status, such as anthropometry and laboratory data, but the same result was not found when comparing SGA and nutritional screening methods. CONCLUSIONS: Recently published literature demonstrates SGA as a valid tool for the nutritional diagnosis of hospitalized clinical and surgical patients, and point to a potential superiority of nutritional screening methods in the early detection of malnutrition.