Prevalence and impact of malnutrition on readmission among hospitalized patients with heart failure in China

AIMS: Malnutrition is common in patients with heart failure (HF) and is associated with poorer quality of life and increased mortality; however, an effective screening tool for malnutrition and its impact on the readmission of patients with HF is uncertain. Our objectives were to study (i) the nutritional status of Chinese hospitalized patients with HF and its impact on readmission and (ii) the validity of seven malnutrition screening tools. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, univariate and multivariate analyses of Cox proportional hazards regression were used to determine important predictors of readmission. The endpoint was readmission due to HF or non‐HF. A total of 402 patients were included (66.4% male, median age 62 years [range: 20–92 years], median NT‐proBNP 5,229 ng/L). During a median follow‐up of 159 days, 150 patients (37%) were readmitted to the hospital. After adjusting for confounders, only malnutrition assessed using the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) nutrition score was independently associated with readmission (P = 0.0293). A base model for predicting readmission with a C‐statistic of 0.680 and subsequent addition of various nutritional screening tools improved its performance over the base model. Patients with malnutrition had a twofold increased risk of readmission. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the prevalence of malnutrition among hospitalized patients with HF in China is very high and that malnutrition significantly increases the risk of readmission in these patients. CONUT is a validated screening tool for malnutrition and may provide valuable prognostic information.