The Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index Predicts Hospital Length of Stay and In-hospital Weight Loss in Elderly Patients

Background & Aims: Nutritional derangements are common in elderly patients, but how nutritional risk affects outcome in this subset of hospital inpatients deserves further investigation. We evaluated the impact of nutritional risk on length of stay (LOS) and in-hospital weight loss (WL) in elderly patients (>65 yrs).

Methods: Nutritional risk was assessed by the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) in a prospective multicentre hospital-based cohort study. The outcomes were LOS and in-hospital WL.

Results: In the whole sample (N = 667), the prevalence of high (GNRI < 92) and mild (GNRI: 92-98) nutritional risk were 33% and 25%, respectively. Patients with a high nutritional risk were more likely (OR = 1.89; 95%CI: 1.22-2.92) to stay longer in hospital (fourth quartile, LOS ≥ 20 days) compared to those without. Other factors associated with prolonged LOS were cancer diagnosis (OR = 2.52; 95%CI: 1.69-3.75), the presence of comorbidities (OR = 1.24; 95%CI: 1.11-1.40) and surgical setting (OR = 1.65; 95%CI: 1.10-2.47). In-hospital WL ≥ 5% was recorded in 75 ambulant patients from a representative subgroup (N = 583). It was independently associated with prolonged LOS (OR = 1.80; 95%CI: 1.03-3.06) and was more frequent among cancer patients (OR = 1.88; 95%CI: 1.09-3.24), in patients with a high nutritional risk (OR = 2.23; 95%CI: 1.20-4.14) or those admitted to surgical units (OR = 1.77; 95%CI: 1.02-3.05).

Conclusions: Nutritional risk assessed by the GNRI on admission, predicts LOS and in-hospital WL in elderly patients.