The associations between functional and nutritional factors for oral opportunistic infections in a long-term hospital

Preoperative nutritional status and postoperative health outcomes in older adults undergoing spine surgery: Electronic health records analysis

AIM

To examine whether a high nutritional risk status, assessed via the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), is independently associated with postoperative health outcomes, including unplanned intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, infectious complications, and prolonged length of stay in older patients undergoing spine surgery.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective descriptive study analyzing electronic health records from a tertiary hospital, including data from 1,014 patients aged ≥70 undergoing elective spine surgery between February 2013 and March 2023.

RESULTS

High nutritional risk patients had significantly higher odds of unplanned ICU admission, infectious complications, and prolonged length of stay compared to low-risk patients. For each one-point increase in GNRI, there was a significant 0.91- and 0.95-fold decrease in the odds of unplanned ICU admission and infectious complications, respectively.

CONCLUSION

GNRI screening in older patients before spine surgery may have potential to identify those at elevated risk for postoperative adverse outcomes.

Clinical efficacy of assessment of swallowing ability for pneumonia and other assessment tools for occurrence and mortality from pneumonia among older inpatients in a long-term care hospital

BACKGROUND

Aspiration pneumonia is an important condition in elderly patients and detecting dysphagia early can help clinicians identify patients with a high risk of aspiration pneumonia. We previously reported the usefulness of the Assessment of Swallowing Ability for Pneumonia (ASAP) in predicting the occurrence of and mortality from pneumonia in patients in acute care hospitals; however, there are very few reports on the utility of this screening test for patients in stable condition.

METHODS

Elderly patients in stable condition (n = 133) without pneumonia were prospectively enrolled. Associations between ASAP, Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Controlling Nutrition Status (CONUT), and Charlson Co-morbidity Index (CCI) scores and occurrence of/mortality from pneumonia during hospitalization were evaluated.

RESULTS

The occurrence of pneumonia was observed in 27 (20.3%) patients, and 18 (13.5%) died during hospitalization. Multivariate analysis showed that low ASAP score and low FIM motor were independent predictors for the occurrence of pneumonia, and low ASAP score was an independent predictor for mortality from pneumonia. Areas under the curve for ASAP, FIM motor, FIM cognition, and CONUT scores were 0.895 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.829-0.960), 0.913 (95% CI, 0.860-0.968), 0.841 (95% CI, 0.761-0.921), and 0.753 (95% CI, 0.649-0.858), respectively, for occurrence, and 0.881 (95% CI, 0.807-0.955), 0.904 (95% CI, 0.860-0.949), 0.829 (95% CI, 0.727-0.931), 0.746 (95% CI, 0.617-0.874), respectively, for mortality.

CONCLUSION

The ASAP and FIM motor are useful for predicting the occurrence of and mortality from pneumonia in elderly inpatients in long-term care hospitals.

Relationship between functional independence measure and geriatric nutritional risk index in pneumonia patients in long-term nursing care facilities

AIM

The prevention of pneumonia is an urgent issue among Japanese older adults. However, little has been reported on the relationship between a Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and the Geriatric Nutrition Risk Index (GNRI) for the prevention of pneumonia in patients in long-term care facilities in Japan. We aimed to clarify the relevance of FIM and GNRI for inpatients with and without pneumonia.

METHODS

We identified 233 patients who were hospitalized in our long-term nursing hospital from April 2012 to September 2013. We compared differences in FIM among GNRI classes for four groups: (i) pneumonia/high GNRI; (ii) pneumonia/low GNRI; (iii) no pneumonia/high GNRI; and (iv) no pneumonia/low GNRI. To assess the pneumonia predictors, we used a logistic regression for long-term nursing patients. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed cut-off values and the area under the curve.

RESULTS

A total of 88 (37.8%) of 233 inpatients had pneumonia. FIM of the pneumonia/low GNRI groups was significantly lower than that of the no pneumonia/high and low GNRI groups. Logistic regression showed that FIM (P < 0.001; OR -1.035, 95% CI -1.019-1.051) and GNRI (P = 0.017; OR -1.038, 95% CI -1.007-1.070) were predictors of pneumonia. The cut-off values for FIM and GNRI were 26.6 (P < 0.001, the area under the curve 0.70) and 80.5 (P < 0.001, the area under the curve 0.65), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Low activity and malnutrition might lead to the development of pneumonia. FIM and GNRI are useful predictor tools that could help to prevent pneumonia in Japanese patients in long-term care facilities. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1617-1622.