The Association of Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) Score with Survival in Patients with Surgically Treated Renal Cell Carcinoma and Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Geriatric nutritional risk index and controller nutritional status score before metastatic first-line chemotherapy predict survival in patients over 70 years of age with metastatic bladder cancer

Introduction

Several prognostic factors have been identified in patients with metastatic bladder cancer (BC). As it is known, older adult patients are prone to nutritional deficiency. The knowledge about nutrition and impact on survival in older patients with metastatic bladder cancer is missing. It is necessary to specifically examine this population. Because timely interventions can make a positive impact on this patients population. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the prognostic effect of the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), Controller Nutritional Status (CONUT) score and Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) before first-line chemotherapy in the metastatic stage in patients with metastatic bladder cancer over 70.

Participants and methods

Patients over 70 with pathologically confirmed denovo metastatic or recurrent metastatic bladder cancer were included in the study. Patients with infections diagnosed at the time of diagnosis, autoimmune diseases or history of steroid use were excluded. Since our population consists of a specific age group with a specific cancer, we found a new cut-off value by performing ROC analysis to ensure optimal sensitivity and specificity in terms of progression. Low GNRI value was related with poor nutritional status. Low PNI value was related with poor nutritional status and high CONUT score was related with poor nutritional status. Factors predicting overall survival (OS) and Progression-Free Survival (PFS) were assessed using both univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses.

Results

106 patients were included in the study and the average age was 75.5 years. In the GNRI-Low group, PFS was significantly shorter than that in the GNRI-High group [HR (95% CI) = 57.1 (12.8-255.5), (p < 0.001)]. Among those with a low-CONUT score, PFS was found to be longer than that in the high-CONUT group [HR (95% CI) = 1.7 (1.0-3.0), (p = 0.039)]. The median PFS of the PNI-Low group wasn't significantly shorter than that of the PNI-High group [HR (95% CI) = 1.8 (0.5-6.2), (p = 0.359)].

Conclusion

Our study suggests that the GNRI and CONUT scores are useful for predicting survival in patients over 70 years of age with BC.

Prognostic and clinicopathological significance of the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score in patients with lymphoma: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

The role of the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) scores in predicting the prognosis of lymphoma cases has been extensively explored, with no consistent results. The present meta-analysis focused on accurately evaluating whether CONUT could be used to predict the prognosis of lymphoma cases and its clinicopathological value.

DESIGN

The present meta-analysis was reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The prognostic significance of CONUT to overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in lymphoma was estimated by calculating pooled HRs with 95% CIs. The relationship between CONUT and clinicopathological characteristics was measured based on pooled ORs with 95% CIs.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were comprehensively searched from inception through 24 March 2023.

STATISTICAL METHODS

Either a random-effects model or a fixed-effects model was selected depending on the level of heterogeneity among the included studies.

RESULTS

This meta-analysis enrolled seven articles, containing 2060 patients with lymphoma. According to the pooled analysis, a higher CONUT score significantly predicted poor OS (HR=1.94, 95% CI 1.46 to 2.57, p<0.001) as well as poorer PFS (HR=1.51, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.20, p=0.031). Furthermore, according to the combined analysis, a higher CONUT score was significantly associated with Ann Arbor stages III-IV (OR=3.75, 95% CI 2.96 to 4.75, p<0.001), an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2-4 (OR=5.14, 95% CI 3.97 to 6.65, p<0.001), high-intermediate/high National Comprehensive Cancer Network International Prognostic Index (OR=8.05, 95% CI 5.11 to 12.66, p<0.001), B symptoms (OR=4.97, 95% CI 2.89 to 8.52, p<0.001), extranodal disease (OR=3.25, 95% CI 2.24 to 4.70, p<0.001), bone marrow involvement (OR=4.86, 95% CI 3.25 to 7.27, p<0.001) and elevated lactate dehydrogenase levels (OR=3.21, 95% CI 2.37 to 4.34, p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

According to our results, higher CONUT scores were significantly associated with poor OS and PFS in lymphoma.

Prognostic role of the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score in patients with biliary tract cancer: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Previous reports have not reached consistent results regarding the prognostic significance of the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score in biliary tract cancer (BTC). Therefore, the present meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the precise role of the CONUT score in predicting the prognosis of BTC.

METHODS

Electronic platforms including Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase were comprehensively searched up to May 2, 2023. We also determined combined hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to estimate the role of the CONUT score in predicting the prognosis of patients with BTC.

RESULTS

Ten studies involving 1,441 patients were included in the present study. Nine studies treated patients with surgical resection, and one study used percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting (PTBS) plus 125I seed intracavitary irradiation. Based on the combined data, a higher CONUT score significantly predicted dismal overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.94, 95%CI = 1.41-2.66, p < 0.001), inferior recurrence-free survival (RFS) (HR = 1.79, 95%CI = 1.48-2.17, p < 0.001) in BTC, and low differentiation (OR = 1.57, 95%CI = 1.15-2.14, p = 0.004). Nonetheless, the CONUT score was not related to sex, lymph node metastasis, microvascular invasion, perineural invasion, distant metastasis, TNM stage, or tumor number in patients with BTC.

CONCLUSION

Higher CONUT scores significantly predicted worse OS and RFS in patients with BTC. Moreover, BTC patients with high CONUT scores tended to have poor tumor differentiation. The CONUT score could help clinicians stratify high-risk patients with BTC and devise individualized treatment plans.

Interpretations of the Role of Plasma Albumin in Prognostic Indices: A Literature Review

This review assesses how publications interpret factors that influence the serum or plasma albumin (PA) level in prognostic indices, focusing on inflammation and nutrition. On PubMed, a search for "albumin AND prognosis" yielded 23,919 results. From these records, prognostic indices were retrieved, and their names were used as search strings on PubMed. Indices found in 10 or more original research articles were included. The same search strings, restricted to "Review" or "Systematic review", retrieved yielded on the indices. The data comprised the 10 latest original research articles and up to 10 of the latest reviews. Thirty indices had 294 original research articles (6 covering two indices) and 131 reviews, most of which were from recent years. A total of 106 articles related the PA level to inflammation, and 136 related the PA level to nutrition. For the reviews, the equivalent numbers were 54 and 65. In conclusion, more publications mention the PA level as a marker of nutrition rather than inflammation. This is in contrast to several general reviews on albumin and nutritional guidelines, which state that the PA level is a marker of inflammation but not nutrition. Hypoalbuminemia should prompt clinicians to focus on the inflammatory aspects in their patients.