Analysis of the Correlation between Malnutrition and Prognosis in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease and Cancer

To investigate the association between malnutrition and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) patients with cancer. This study used a retrospective cohort design to analyze data of patients with CAD and cancer admitted to five teaching hospitals in southern China between 2007 and 2020. Nutritional Status was assessed by CONUT (Controlled Nutritional Status) scoring system. The primary outcomes were all-cause mortality and cause- specific mortality to explore the association between malnutrition and these clinical outcomes. A total of 1063 CAD patients with cancer (mean age 68.0±9.7 years, female 26.6%) were included in this study. 698 (65.7%) patients were malnourished. During a mean follow-up of 3.3 years (range, 1.7 to 5.4 years), 250 patients (35.8%) in the malnourished group and 69 patients (18.9%) in the nonmalnourished group died. Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) was the leading cause of death in the nonmalnourished group, whereas cancer surpassed CVD as the leading cause of death in the malnourished group. After adjustment for potential confounders, undernutrition was associated with a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.89, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.40-2.56), as well as an increased risk of death from cancer (aHR: 3.11, 95% CI: 1.67-5.80) and an increase in the trend of cardiovascular mortality (aHR: 1.78, 95%CI: 0.98-3.23). This study found that about two-thirds of CAD patients with cancer were malnourished and that malnutrition was associated with significantly increased all- cause and cancer mortality. Therefore, malnutrition is an important independent risk factor for patients with CHD and cancer, which significantly increases the risk of all- cause death and cancer death. These findings highlight the importance of valuing and improving the nutritional status of such patients in clinical management.