The importance of nutritional risk markers on the outcome of patients with acute coronary syndrome

Introduction. The Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) reflects the immunonutritional status of patients, for this reason we aimed to follow the evolution of the patients with acute coronary syndrome at six months, taking into account this index and following the inflammatory status. Materials and method. Forty-five subjects were included in the study, and their PNI score was calculated and, according to it, we had two groups, based on the degree of malnutrition: patients with PNI score >38 with good nutritional status, and patients with PNI ≤38, with poor nutritional status. Results. The results showed that the nutritionally deficient patients group had statistically significantly lower serum albumin values at six months after acute coronary syndrome (4.13±0.23 g/dl versus 3.55±0.14 g/dl; p<0.001), and higher but statistically insignificant values for urea and creatinine levels. Conclusions. Taking into account the PNI index, this study shows that patients with poor nutritional status have poorer outcomes and more pronounced inflammatory status at six months after acute coronary syndrome. A longitudinal study is needed to elucidate whether this nutritional index may be associated with subsequent cardiovascular events.