Nutritional status and its correlation with cognitive function in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Objective To investigate the prevalence of malnutrition risk in patients with Parkinson’s disease （PD）， and explore the correlation between high malnutrition risk and cognitive impairment. Methods A total of 150 PD patients admitted to the Forth People’s Hospital of Taizhou from March 2023 to January 2025 were included. The GeriatricNutritional Risk Index （GNRI） was used to assess the nutritional status of PD patients. A GNRI score ≥98 indicated no malnutrition risk， while a score &lt; 98 indicated malnutrition risk. The patients were divided into a high GNRI group （score ≥98） and a low GNRI group （score &lt; 98）. Cognitive function was evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination （MMSE）， and the prevalence of cognitive impairment was analyzed. Logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation between malnutrition risk and cognitive impairment. Results Among the 150 patients， 70 were at risk of malnutrition， with a high malnutrition risk prevalence of 46.7%. The low GNRI group comprised 70 patients， while the high GNRI group comprised 80 patients. A total of 71 patients had cognitive impairment， with an incidence rate of 47.3%.In the low GNRI group， 43 patients had cognitive impairment， with an incidence rate of 61.4% and an MMSE score of 21.5 （14.0， 26.0）. In the high GNRI group， 28 patients had cognitive impairment， with an incidence of 35.0% and an MMSE score of 23.5 （18.8， 27.0）. The differences in the incidence of cognitive impairment and MMSE scores between the two groups were statistically significant （both <i>P &lt; </i>0.05）. At the same time， significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of age， disease duration， H-Y stage， triglyceride levels， thyroid function， hemoglobin ， blood glucose， and uric acid levels （all <i>P &lt; </i>0.05）， while there were no statistically significant differences in vascular risk factors or educational level （all <i>P &gt; </i>0.05）. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis suggested that cognitive impairment （OR=2.66，<i>P = </i>0.009），age（OR=0.93， <i>P = </i>0.004）， TSH（OR=1.36，<i>P =</i>0.006） were influencing factors for malnutrition risk in PD patients after correcting factors such as disease duration and H-Y stage. Conclusions PD patients have a high risk of malnutrition， and those at risk of malnutrition exhibit a higher incidence of cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment is a risk factor for high malnutrition risk in PD patients.