THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MODIFIED NUTRITION RISK IN CRITICALLY ILL SCORE AND MORTALITY IN GERIATRIC PATIENTS

Introduction: The intensive care unit (ICU) course of geriatric patients differ in various ways from that of younger patients. Geriatric patients admitted to the ICU often have several comorbidities with multiple drug uses.Evaluation of the nutritional status upon initial admission is vital for the geriatric patient. This study aims to retrospectively investigate the association between modified NUTRIC score at first admission with mechanical ventilation duration and mortality in the geriatric patients which constitute the majority of our ICU patients. Materials and Method: We retrospectively investigated patients admitted to our clinic in 2017 aged above 65 for their age, modified NUTRIC scores, days under invasive and non-invasive ventilation, and comorbidities. Patients under low risk of malnutrition with a modified NUTRIC Score of 0 to 4 comprised Group A while patients with a high risk of malnutrition and a score of 5 to 9 comprised Group B. Both groups were investigated for days under ventilation and mortality. Results: 14.6% of patients were diagnosed with primary respiratory insufficiency, 34.1% with secondary respiratory insufficiency, 9.8% with intracranial pathologies, 35.4% with postoperative ICU requirement, 4.8% with cardiac arrest and CPR, 0.8% with trauma and 0.5% with malignancies. An association between an increase in modified NUTRIC score and days under mechanical ventilation was not observed. Mortality was significantly higher in Group B. (p<0.001) Cut-off value for mortality was defined as 6 for Group B. Conclusion: We believe the routine use of the modified NUTRIC score for the ICU patients will be beneficial.