Outcomes of nutritionally at-risk Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID 19) patients admitted in a tertiary government hospital: A follow-up study of the MalnutriCoV study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The prevalence of malnutrition among adult Filipino patients with COVID 19 is 71.83%. Malnutrition has long been associated with poor outcomes among patients with pneumonia. This may be due to the increased risk of malnourished patients to develop impaired muscle and respiratory function. We aimed to determine the outcomes of adult COVID 19 patients admitted in a tertiary government hospital accordingly to nutrition status and risk. METHODS: Retrospective study on the adult COVID 19 patients admitted from July 15 to September 15, 2020 who were screened using the Philippine Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition modified Subjective Global Assessment Grade tool. Chi-square or Fisher exact test, as well as Mann–Whitney U test or Kruskal–Wallis with post-hoc Dunn test, as appropriate were done. Survival analysis for mortality was done with right-censored data length of initial admission in days. Cox proportional hazard regression was done to determine the association of the main variables of interest with mortality with a 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: Malnourished patients were 30% less likely to be discharged [HR 0.70 95% CI (0.50, 0.97)]; malnutrition was also associated with length of hospital stay as those who were malnourished had longer lengths of hospital stay of about 4 days on the average [HR 3.55 95% CI (0.83, 6.27)]. High nutrition risk was significantly associated with length of hospital stay [HR 4.36 95% CI (0.89, 7.83)]. CONCLUSION: The only risk factor for mortality shown in this study is ICU transfer. Malnutrition, moderate nutrition risk, and high nutrition risk were risk factors of having longer lengths of hospital stays. While only malnutrition was the risk factor for being less likely to be discharged. We reiterate that nutrition assessment and support are important in mitigating the effects of COVID 19.