Impact of nutritional risk on 28-day mortality and the prevalence of underfeeding in critically ill patients: a prospective cohort study

Introduction: nutritional risk is an important prognostic factor in hospitalized patients, but frequently it is underappreciated and not considered as a part of the prognostic evaluation in patients from intensive care units. Objective: to evaluate the association between nutritional risk and 28-day mortality and characterize the nutritional support in critically ill patients. Methods: this was a single-center, prospective cohort study was performed over 7 months in a Medical-surgical ICU of a tertiary hospital in Mexico. From 352 admissions a consecutive sample of 110 patients was included. All of them were >= 18 years old, with >= 48 h of stay in ICU and with the consent to participate. Nutritional risk assessed by the modified NUTRIC score (mNUTRIC score), 28-day mortality and nutritional support characteristics were recorded. Results: the patient characteristics: mean age 50.7 +/- 16.8 years, APACHE II score 15.5 +/- 5.8, SOFA score 6.9 +/- 3, invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) 65.5 % and 28-day mortality 23.6 %. High nutritional risk (31.8 %) was associated with 28-day mortality (RR 5.81, 95 % CI 2.69-12.53). In the surviving group, the mNUTRIC score correlated with the length of stay (LOS) in the ICU (r = 0.216, p = 0.049), LOS in the hospital (r = 0.230, p = 0.036) and IMV duration (r = 0.306, p = 0.037). Nutritional support was administered in 55.4 % of the patients, reaching only 52.9 % and 46 % of the energy and protein requirements, respectively. Only 18 % and 21.3 % of the patients achieved the energy and protein requirements, respectively. Conclusions: high nutritional risk was associated with a higher risk of 28-day mortality. Less than a quarter of the patients receiving nutritional support reached the energy and protein requirements.