The association between nutritional risk and contrast-induced acute kidney injury in patients undergoing coronary angiography: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Nutritional risk is prevalent in various diseases, but its association with contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore this association in patients undergoing coronary angiography (CAG). METHODS: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 4386 patients undergoing CAG were enrolled. Nutritional risks were estimated by nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS-2002), controlling nutritional status (CONUT), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI), respectively. CI-AKI was determined by the elevation of serum creatinine (Scr). Multivariable logistic regression analyses and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted. Subgroup analyses were performed according to age (< 70/≥70 years), gender (male/female), percutaneous coronary intervention (with/without), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (< 60/≥60 ml/min/1.73m(2)). RESULTS: Overall, 787 (17.9%) patients were diagnosed with CI-AKI. The median score of NRS-2002, CONUT, PNI, and GNRI was 1.0, 3.0, 45.8, and 98.6, respectively. Nutritional risk was proven to be associated with CI-AKI when four different nutritional tools were employed, including NRS-2002 ([3–7 vs. 0]: odds ratio [95% confidence interval], OR [95%CI] = 4.026 [2.732 to 5.932], P < 0.001), CONUT ([6–12 vs. 0–1]: OR [95%CI] = 2.230 [1.586 to 3.136], P < 0.001), PNI ([< 38 vs. ≥52]: OR [95%CI] = 2.349 [1.529 to 3.610], P < 0.001), and GNRI ([< 90 vs. ≥104]: OR [95%CI] = 1.822 [1.229 to 2.702], P = 0.003). This is consistent when subgroup analyses were performed. Furthermore, nutritional scores were proved to be accurate in predicting CI-AKI (area under ROC curve: NRS-2002, 0.625; CONUT, 0.609; PNI, 0.629; and GNRI, 0.603). CONCLUSIONS: Nutritional risks (high scores of NRS-2002 and CONUT; low scores of PNI and GNRI) were associated with CI-AKI in patients undergoing CAG. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12937-022-00810-z.