Reduced Mortality Risk in Malnourished Hospitalized Older Adult Patients with COPD Treated with a Specialized Oral Nutritional Supplement: Sub-group Analysis of the NOURISH Study.

Background: Hospitalized, malnourished older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have an elevated risk of readmission and mortality. Objective: Post-hoc, sub-group analysis from the NOURISH study cohort examined the effect of a high protein oral nutritional supplement (ONS) containing HMB (HP-HMB) in malnourished, hospitalized older adults with COPD and to identify predictors of outcomes. Methods: The NOURISH study (n = 652) was a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, doubleblind trial. The COPD subgroup (n = 214) included hospitalized, malnourished (based on Subjective Global Assessment), older adults (>65 y), with admission diagnosis of COPD who received either standard-of-care plus HP-HMB (n = 109) or standard-of-care and a placebo supplement (n = 105) prescribed 2 servings/day from within 3 days of hospital admission (baseline) and up to 90 days after discharge. The primary study outcome was a composite endpoint of incidence of death or non-elective readmission up to 90-day post-discharge, while secondary endpoints included changes in hand-grip strength, body weight, and nutritional biomarkers over time. Categorical outcomes were analyzed using Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests, longitudinal data by repeated measures analysis of covariance; and changes from baseline by analysis of covariance. p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Multivariate logistic regression was used to model predictors of the primary outcome and components. Results: In patients with COPD, 30, 60, and 90-day hospital readmission rate did not differ, but in contrast, 30, 60, and 90-day mortality risk was approximately 71% lower with HP-HMB supplementation relative to placebo (1.83%, 2.75%, 2.75% vs. 6.67%, 9.52% and 10.48%, p = 0.0395, 0.0193, 0.0113, resp.). In patients with COPD, compared to placebo, intake of HP-HMB resulted in a significant increase in handgrip strength (+1.56 kg vs.-0.34 kg, p = 0.0413) from discharge to day 30; increased body weight from baseline to hospital discharge (0.66 kg vs.-0.01 kg, p < 0.05) and, improvements in blood nutritional biomarker concentrations. The multivariate logistic regression predictors of the death, readmission or composite endpoints in these COPD patients showed that participants who were severely malnourished (p = 0.0191) and had a Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) Score of 1 or 2 had statistically significant odds of readmission or death (p = 0.0227). Conclusions: Among malnourished, hospitalized patients with COPD, supplementation with HP-HMB was associated with a markedly decreased mortality risk, and improved handgrip strength, body weight, and nutritional biomarkers within a 90-day period after hospital discharge. This post-hoc, subgroup analysis highlights the importance of early identification of nutritional risk and & nbsp;administration of high-protein ONS in older, malnourished patients with COPD after hospital admission and continuing after hospital discharge. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.