Impact of Objective Malnutrition Status on the Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease Following Endovascular Therapy.

Background: Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an athero-occlusive disease and a known risk factor for cardiovascular events. The controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score and geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) are objective tools for evaluating malnutrition and are reportedly associated with poor clinical outcomes in patients with fatal diseases. However, the effect of malnutrition on the clinical outcomes in patients with PAD remains unclear.

Methods and results: We enrolled 357 patients with PAD who underwent endovascular therapy. Malnutrition was diagnosed by CONUT score and GNRI as in previous reports. During a median follow-up period of 1,071 days, there were 67 major adverse cardiovascular and leg events (MACLEs). The CONUT score- and GNRI-based malnutrition statuses were identified in 56% and 46% of the patients, respectively. Proportion of malnutrition increased with advancing Fontaine class. The multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis demonstrated that both the CONUT score- and GNRI-based malnutrition status was an independent predictor of MACLEs. The Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that the MACLE ratio increased with deteriorating malnutrition. Finally, the addition of the CONUT score or GNRI to the known risk factors significantly improved the net reclassification index and integrated discrimination index.

Conclusions: Malnutrition was common and closely associated with the clinical outcomes in patients with PAD, indicating that it is a novel therapeutic target in the management of these patients.