Risk Factors for Long-Term Nutritional Disorders One Year After COVID-19: A Post Hoc Analysis of COVID-19 Recovery Study II.

Background/Objectives: COVID-19 patients develop various clinical symptoms, including malnutrition. However, the risk factors for long-term nutritional disorders remain unclear. Identifying these factors is crucial for preventing nutritional disorders by initiating early nutritional interventions. Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of COVID-19 Recovery Study II (CORESII). The study included adult patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and discharged from the hospital. Information, including post-COVID-19 symptoms one month after onset and changes in daily life during the first year, was collected using a self-administered questionnaire sent one year after hospital discharge. We examined the association between baseline characteristics, disease severity, and symptoms that persisted one month after onset with malnutrition disorders one year after onset, defined as a Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool score ≥1, using a logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 1081 patients (mean age of 56.0 years; 34% females; 38% admitted to the intensive care unit) were analyzed. Of these patients, 266 patients (24.6%) had malnutrition one year after onset. In a multivariable logistic regression analysis using variables that were significant in a univariate logistic regression analysis, the following factors were independently associated with malnutrition: BMI < 18.5 kg/m2 (odds ratio [95% confidence interval (CI)], 48.9 [14.3-168]), 18.5 ≤ BMI ≤ 20 (10.5 [5.89-18.8]), 30 < BMI (2.64 [1.84-3.75]), length of hospital stay (1.01 [1.00-1.02]), maintenance dialysis (3.19 [1.19-8.61]), and difficulty concentrating one month after onset (1.73 [1.07-2.79]). Conclusions: Being underweight or obese, prolonged hospitalization, maintenance dialysis, and difficulty concentrating one month after onset were associated with a risk of malnutrition one year post-illness. Patients with these factors may be at a high risk of long-term nutritional disorders.