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Background: Could nutritional status serve as prognostic factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? The present study evaluated the clinical and nutritional characteristics of COVID-19 patients and explored the relationship between nutritional risk at admission and in-hospital mortality.Methods: A retrospective, observational study was conducted in two hospitals in Hubei, China. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 were typed as mild/moderate, severe, or critically ill. Clinical data and in-hospital death were collected. Nutritional risk was assessed using the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), the Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), and the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) via objective parameters at admission.Results: 295 patients were enrolled, including 66 severe patients and 41 critically ill patients. 25 deaths were observed, making 8.47% in the whole population and 37.88% in the critically ill subgroup. Patients had significant differences in nutrition-related parameters and inflammatory biomarkers among three types of disease severity. Patients with lower GNRI and PNI score, as well as higher CONUT, had a higher risk of in-hospital mortality. The receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated the good prognostic implication of GNRI and CONUT score. The multivariate logistic regression showed that baseline nutritional status, assessed by GNRI, PNI, or CONUT score, was a prognostic indicator for in-hospital mortality.Conclusions: Despite variant assessment tools, poor nutritional status was associated with in-hospital death in patients infected with COVID-19. This study highlighted the importance of nutritional screening at admission and the new insight of nutritional monitoring or therapy.

Background:The association between triceps skinfold (TSF) thickness and mortality in previous studies was controversial. This study aimed to explore how TSF thickness affects all-cause, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular mortality among the United States (U.S.) general population.MethodsOur research included 25,954 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2010. Participants were categorized by the baseline TSF quartiles [quartile 1 (Q1): < 11.8, (Q2): 11.8–17.4, (Q3): 17.4–25, and (Q4): ≥25; unit: millimeter (mm)]. Cox regression models were used to assess the association of TSF with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular mortality. The association between mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC) and mortality was also explored. Subgroup analyses were conducted to assess heterogeneity in different subgroups.ResultsThe highest TSF group (Q4) had the lowest risk to experience all-cause (HR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.38–0.59; P < 0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (HR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.23–0.54; P < 0.001) than the lowest TSF group (Q1) after multivariate adjustment. However, there was no relationship between TSF quartiles and cerebrovascular mortality (HR, 0.98; 95%CI, 0.42–2.30; P = 0.97). The protective effects of TSF thickness on mortality still existed after adjusting for BMI and MAMC. For every 1 mm increase in TSF thickness, the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular death decreased by 4% (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.95–0.97; P < 0.001) and 6% (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.93–0.96; P < 0.001), respectively. In the stratified analysis, the relationships between TSF and mortality risk were generally similar across all subgroups.ConclusionsHigher TSF thickness was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, independent of BMI and MAMC. Our study revealed that the TSF thickness may be a convenient and credible indicator to predict mortality, especially in those with severe cardiovascular diseases.