Evaluation of nutritional status in intensive care unit patients

Aims: Malnutrition and systemic inflammation are known to be associated with poor prognosis in critically ill patients. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) and hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet (HALP) scores on mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Methods: This retrospective study included adult patients hospitalized in the internal medicine ICUs of two tertiary centers in 2024. Patients with chronic or systemic diseases were excluded from the control group. Laboratory data, APACHE II scores, CONUT and HALP scores were recorded on admission. We conducted statistical analyses to evaluate the association between these scores and mortality. Results: A total of 53 ICU patients were included. The mean CONUT score was significantly higher in the patient group (6.71) compared to healthy controls (1.15) (p=0.000), indicating moderate malnutrition. The HALP score was also significantly lower in the ICU group (20.90) than in the control group (63.19) (p=0.000). However, no statistically significant association was found between either CONUT or HALP scores and mortality, length of stay, or APACHE II scores. Conclusion: Although CONUT and HALP scores differed significantly between ICU patients and healthy individuals, they did not predict mortality in this cohort. However, the potential implications of our findings are significant. These easily applicable scores may still be useful for assessing nutritional and inflammatory status in ICU patients, and our study provides a foundation for further research in this area. Further multicenter, prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to clarify their prognostic utility.