The performance of three nutritional tools varied in colorectal cancer patients: a retrospective analysis

•Imperfect reference standard has been proved to lead to biased estimates of diagnostic accuracy.•This study used the Bayesian latent class model (LCM) to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the GLIM criteria, NRS-2002, and PG-SGA, which adjusted the imperfect gold standard bias.•Survival analyses showed the association between nutritional status and overall survival of colorectal cancer patients.Harrell's concordance index showed all these three tools improved the TNM staging system for survival prediction.