The Validity of the GLIM Criteria for Malnutrition in Hospitalized Patients with Gastric Cancer

Abstract

Background The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) has recently proposed a consensus on the criteria to diagnose malnutrition. The validity of the new criteria to detect malnutrition is still being explored. Therefore, this study aimed to verify the validity of the GLIM criteria for malnutrition in hospitalized patients with gastric cancer (GC) using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) as a comparator. Methods This is a cross-sectional study involving 217 GC inpatients. Nutrition assessment was performed during their hospitalization with both the GLIM criteria and the PG-SGA. Consistency of the assessment results and their correlation with the quality of life in patients were evaluated. Results A moderate concordance (K = 0.483, P < 0.001) was founded between the two methods for malnutrition diagnosis. Spearman correlation analysis confirmed the significant association (P < 0.05) between most aspects of the quality of life and nutrition status regarding either the GLIM criteria or the PG-SGA. In multivariate linear regression, adjusted for confounding variables, the quality of life was significantly associated with nutrition status by the GLIM criteria (B = 5.63, 95% CI: 0.09–11.16, P = 0.046), and by the PG-SGA (B = 13.53, 95% CI: 7.78–19.27, P < 0.001). Conclusions This study provides a new understanding of the validity of the GLIM criteria in hospitalized GC patients. In the study, we have found that the new GLIM criteria are of concurrent and clinical validity in GC inpatients, suggested by the comparison with the PG-SGA and its correlation with the quality of life.