Characteristics of malnutrition according to Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition criteria in non-surgical patients with irritable bowel disease

OBJECTIVE

Malnutrition is common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) was proposed to assess the severity and characteristics of malnutrition. Thus, we aimed to use the latest consensus on the diagnosis of malnutrition, GLIM criteria, to evaluate malnutrition in patients with IBD.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study of 73 adult patients with IBD (48 with Crohn disease and 25 with ulcerative colitis). Demographic data, clinical characteristics, and nutrition status defined by Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS) 2002 and GLIM criteria were recorded at enrollment.

RESULTS

According to the GLIM criteria, 43 (58.90%) patients were identified with malnutrition, and the incidence of mild to moderate malnutrition and severe malnutrition was 28.77% (21 of 73 patients) and 30.14% (22 of 73 patients), respectively. The severity of malnutrition in patients with IBD increased with the cumulative number of phenotypic criteria they met (P < 0.01). The difference in the number of etiologic indicators was only identified between patients with severe malnutrition and those without malnutrition (P < 0.05). Patients with Crohns disease had a significantly higher rate of muscle mass loss than patients with ulcerative colitis (P = 0.038) but a lower incidence of reduced food intake or assimilation (P = 0.039).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of malnutrition according to the GLIM criteria was high in non-surgical patients with IBD, and as the degree of malnutrition worsened, more phenotypes and etiologic types appeared. The phenotypic and etiologic characteristics of GLIM were different in patients with Crohn disease than in those with ulcerative colitis.