Prevalence of malnutrition in COVID 19 inpatients: the Nutricov study

Background: Recent ESPEN guidelines highlighted the interest of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition in the management of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) patients. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of malnutrition in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. Methods: Prospective observational cohort study on COVID-19 inpatients admitted to a tertiary hospital. Malnutrition was diagnosed according to the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition two-step approach. Patients were divided in two groups according to the diagnosis of malnutrition. Covariate selection for the multivariate analysis was based on P value <0.2 in univariate analysis, with a logistic regression model and a backward elimination procedure. A partitioning of the population was represented using a Classification and Regression Tree analysis.Results: 80 patients were prospectively enrolled in the study. Thirty patients (37.5%) had criteria for malnutrition. The need for ICU admission (n=46, 57.5%) was similar in the two groups. Three patients who died (3.75%) were malnourished. Multivariate analysis exhibited that low BMI (OR=0.83, 95% CI [0.73-0.96], p=0.0083), dyslipidemia (OR=29.45, 95% CI [3.12-277.73], p=0.0031), oral intakes reduction <50% (OR=3.169, 95% CI [1.04-9.64], p=0.0422) and GFR (CKD-EPI) at admission (OR=0.979, 95% CI [0.96-0.998], p=0.0297) were associated with the occurrence of malnutrition in COVID-19 inpatients.Conclusions: We demonstrate the existence of a high prevalence of malnutrition (37.5%) in a general cohort of COVID-19 inpatients according to GLIM criteria. Considering this high prevalence, nutritional support in COVID-19 care seems an essential element. Trial registration: Ethical Committee No 2020-A01237-32)(RC31/20/0165 NUTRI-COV