The impact of the prognostic significance of the CONUT score on critical care patients in the intensive care unit: a descriptive study

Background: the CONUT score is a validated tool used to assess the nutritional status based on serum albumin, total cholesterol, and lymphocyte count. This study aimed to determine the effect of the CONUT score used for malnutrition assessment on the prognosis of critically ill patients in the ICU. Methods: in this descriptive and retrospective study, demographic data, duration of hospital stay and observation, diseases leading to ICU admission, comorbidities, vital signs, APACHE II score, SOFA score, Charlson comorbidity index, blood serum parameters, treatment supports, duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, feeding methods, and complication status were obtained from patient files. Patients were categorised according to their CONUT scores into normal (0-1), light (2-4), moderate (5-8) and severe (9-12) groups. In statistical analyses, significance was defined as P<0.05. Descriptive statistics, Kaplan-Meier survival curves, and Cox regression models were employed to evaluate the prognostic significance of the CONUT score. Results: the study included 152 patients. For each additional unit in the CONUT score, a 12 % increase in mortality was observed (p = 0.013). The CONUT score was shown to be significantly associated with APACHE II score, SOFA score and Charlson Comorbidity Index, which have prognostic importance in critically ill patients (p = 0.007, p = 0.048, p = 0.024, respectively). According to the CONUT score, patients were divided into four groups, and a statistically significant decrease in survival was observed proportionally from the normal to the severe group in the Kaplan-Meier survival curves (p < 0.001). Conclusions: the CONUT score, which is a reliable and practical tool for assessing the nutritional status of critically ill patients in ICU, is significantly associated with ICU mortality.