Alignment of Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) in the evaluation of nutritional status and its association with clinical outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Abstract

Background and aims: Considering that nutritional status is one of the influential factors in the process of infection and recovery of patients with covid-19, this study was conducted to determine the nutritional status of covid-19 patients and its relationship with clinical outcomes. Methods This cross-sectional study included 155 patients diagnosed with covid-19 disease (aged 18 to 80 years) with PCR tests and Chest CT scans. The nutritional status of participants was assessed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire, Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria, and the NUTRIC score tool. Results The analysis performed on the collected data from 81 men (52.3%) and 74 women (47.7%) showed that, based on the results of the MNA tool, 30 participants (19.4%) and based on the GLIM criteria, 42 participants (27.1%) were suffering from malnutrition. Also, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (GLIM SBP, DBP p-value = 0.038, 0.008 and MNA: SBP, DBP p-value = 0.04, 0.01) and blood oxygen saturation (MNA p-value = 0.01 and GLIM p-value = 0.012) was significantly associated with nutritional status of the participants. In addition, the results from the MNA and GLIM questionnaires showed a relative agreement with a value of 0.35 and p-value < 0.0001. Conclusion This study revealed that nutritional status is a critical factor that affects the clinical condition of covid-19 patients, which can affect the recovery process. In addition, the GLIM criterion is a practical and reliable tool to measure the nutritional status for diagnosis and prognosis of patients with Covid-19.