Association between Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) Score and Body Composition, Inflammation and Frailty in Hospitalized Elderly Patients.

Abstract

a total of 361 patients were retrospectively recruited and divided into three groups based on the CONUT score. patients with a score ≥5 exhibited significantly higher levels of inflammatory markers, such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), Neutrophil/Lymphocytes ratio (NLR), main platelet volume (MPV), and ferritin, compared to those with a lower score. Furthermore, these patients showed unfavorable changes in body composition, including a lower percentage of skeletal muscle mass (MM) and fat-free mass (FFM) and a higher percentage of fatty mass (FM). A positive correlation was found between the CONUT score and inflammatory markers, Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF), and FM. Conversely, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Mini-Mental Status Examination, activity daily living (ADL), instrumental activity daily living (IADL), Barthel index, FFM, and MM showed a negative correlation. Frailty was highly prevalent among patients with a higher CONUT score. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve demonstrated high accuracy in identifying frail patients (sensitivity). a high CONUT score is associated with a pro-inflammatory status as well as with unfavorable body composition. Additionally, it is a good tool to identify frailty among hospitalized elderly patients.