Nutritional Therapy for Acute Heart Failure Patients Admitted to the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit and Its Impact on the Nutritional Status at Discharge.

BACKGROUND

Nutritional status at discharge is a prognostic factor in acute heart failure (AHF) patients, but its relationship with early-phase nutritional therapy in the cardiovascular intensive care unit (CICU) remains unclear, so we evaluated the effects of HF severity, respiratory management, and nutritional dosage on nutritional status in AHF patients.

METHODS AND

RESULTS

We retrospectively analyzed 141 of 160 AHF patients admitted to the CICU in 2021, excluding those with acute coronary syndrome, who had died, or had been discharged early. Patients were divided into 3 groups by respiratory support: invasive ventilation (IPPV, n=21), non-invasive ventilation (NPPV, n=36), and other forms of oxygen supplementation (O2S, n=84). The mean age of the patients was 72±15 years. On day 3, the IPPV group received less nutrition than the O2S group, but by day 7 there was no significant difference among the groups in the nutritional doses administered. No significant differences in the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) at discharge were observed among the groups. Multiple regression analysis identified the energy (standardized β=0.210, P=0.029) and protein (standardized β=0.248, P=0.007) doses on day 3 as being correlated with the GNRI at discharge, independent of HF severity or respiratory management.

CONCLUSIONS

The nutritional dose on day 3, rather than HF severity, respiratory management or the day 7 nutritional dose, may be associated with the GNRI at discharge.