Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) Score as a Potential Prognostic Indicator of In-Hospital Mortality, Sepsis and Length of Stay in an Internal Medicine Department

Abstract

The controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score represents poor nutritional status and has been identified as an indicator of adverse outcomes. Our aim was to evaluate the prognostic role of the CONUT score on in-hospital outcomes in an Internal Medicine Department. This is a retrospective study analyzing data from 369 patients, divided into four groups based on the CONUT score: normal (0–1), mild–high (2–4), moderate–high (5–8), and marked high (9–12). In-hospital all-cause mortality increased from normal to marked high CONUT score group (2.2% vs. 3.6% vs. 13.4% vs. 15.3%, p p p p p < 0.007). The present study demonstrated that an increased CONUT score is related to a higher risk of short-term in-hospital death and complications.

Keywords

• malnutrition
• CONUT score
• in-hospital outcomes
• internal medicine