Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population according to the NRS score.
| Nutritional Risk Screening |
p value | Total |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–2 points |
3–4 points |
≥5 points |
|||
| N = 43 | N = 79 | N = 123 | N = 245 | ||
| Age y | 86.7 ± 6.2 | 86.6 ± 6.3 | 85.5 ± 6.5 | 0.449 | 86.1 ± 6.4 |
| Male sex | 17 (39.5%) | 31 (39.2%) | 55 (44.7%) | 0.426 | 103 (42.0%) |
| LOS d | 11.7 ± 6.0 | 12.8 ± 8.1 | 13.9 ± 7.8 | 0.055 | 13.2 ± 7.6 |
| Deceased | 9 (20.9%) | 20 (25.3%) | 42 (34.1%) | 0.063 | 71 (29.0%) |
| Number of medications | 6.8 ± 4.1 | 7.3 ± 4.5 | 7.6 ± 3.8 | 0.465 | 7.4 ± 4.1 |
| CURB-65 | 0.907 | ||||
| 1 | 9 (20.9%) | 17 (21.5%) | 27 (22.0%) | 53 (21.6%) | |
| 2 | 21 (48.8%) | 31 (39.2%) | 52 (42.3%) | 104 (42.4%) | |
| 3 | 11 (25.6%) | 29 (36.7%) | 40 (32.5%) | 80 (32.7%) | |
| 4 | 2 (4.7%) | 2 (2.5%) | 3 (2.4%) | 7 (2.9%) | |
| 5 | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (0.8%) | 1 (0.4%) | |
| BMI kg/m2 | <0.001 | ||||
| <20 | 1 (2.4%) | 5 (7.0%) | 49 (41.9%) | 55 (23.9%) | |
| 20–24.9 | 21 (50.0%) | 33 (46.5%) | 29 (24.8%) | 83 (36.1%) | |
| 25–29.9 | 9 (21.4%) | 17 (23.9%) | 27 (23.1%) | 53 (23.0%) | |
| 30+ | 11 (26.2%) | 16 (22.5%) | 12 (10.3%) | 39 (17.0%) | |
| CIRS-G | 17.6 ± 5.9 | 18.5 ± 6.6 | 19.7 ± 5.1 | 0.053 | 19.0 ± 5.8 |
| Hypertension | 32 (74.4%) | 56 (70.9%) | 85 (69.1%) | 0.534 | 173 (70.6%) |
| Diabetes under treatment | 11 (25.6%) | 10 (12.7%) | 36 (29.8%) | 0.096 | 57 (23.5%) |
| Heart Failure | 14 (33.3%) | 33 (42.3%) | 37 (31.9%) | 0.435 | 84 (35.6%) |
| Cognitive disorders | 18 (41.9%) | 36 (45.6%) | 71 (58.2%) | 0.028 | 125 (51.2%) |
| Swallowing disorders | 2 (4.7%) | 3 (3.8%) | 18 (14.8%) | <0.001 | 23 (9.5%) |
| COPD | 3 (7.0%) | 6 (7.6%) | 19 (15.6%) | 0.053 | 28 (11.5%) |
| Smoking | 0.497 | ||||
| No smoking | 28 (65.1%) | 56 (71.8%) | 80 (65.6%) | 164 (67.5%) | |
| Past | 14 (32.6%) | 18 (23.1%) | 34 (27.9%) | 66 (27.2%) | |
| Present | 1 (2.3%) | 4 (5.1%) | 8 (6.6%) | 13 (5.3%) | |
| Kidney disease | 12 (27.9%) | 26 (32.9%) | 28 (23.0%) | 0.241 | 66 (27.0%) |
| Liver disease | 3 (7.0%) | 8 (10.1%) | 12 (9.9%) | 0.682 | 23 (9.5%) |
| Parkinson's disease | 0 (0.0%) | 4 (5.1%) | 6 (5.0%) | 0.305 | 10 (4.1%) |
| Active neoplasia | 5 (11.6%) | 3 (3.8%) | 14 (11.6%) | 0.409 | 22 (9.1%) |
| Atrial Fibrillation | 6 (14.0%) | 21 (26.6%) | 31 (25.2%) | 0.301 | 58 (23.7%) |
| Dyslipidemia | 14 (32.6%) | 32 (40.5%) | 37 (30.1%) | 0.362 | 83 (33.9%) |
| C-Reactive Protein mg/l (n = 238) | 60.0 ± 54.1 | 66.2 ± 76.8 | 65.1 ± 66.7 | 0.931 | 64.6 ± 68.0 |
| Lymphocytes G/l (n = 235) | 1.6 ± 2.5 | 1.2 ± 0.9 | 1.1 ± 1.0 | 0.09 | 1.2 ± 1.4 |
| Albumin g/l (n = 168) | 38.0 ± 9.3 | 38.1 ± 16.4 | 35.1 ± 7.0 | 0.151 | 36.5 ± 11.3 |
Abbreviations: NRS = Nutritional Risk Screening; LOS = length of stay; BMI = body mass index; CIRS-G = Cumulative Illness Rating Scale-Geriatric; COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
p values were calculated by Cuzick's nonparametric test for trend across ordered groups and Kruskal–Wallis test for continuous and ordinal variables.