Introduction: Malnutrition is a condition that negatively impacts the clinical outcomes of numerous diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients and to investigate its relationship with the main clinical aspects of CAD.
Material and methods: 50 CAD patients undergoing coronary angiography were enrolled in this study. The nutritional status assessment was based on Nutritional Risk Score 2002 (NRS 2002), body mass index (BMI), and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) measurements.
Results: The analysis showed a moderate inverse correlation between NRS 2002 and BIA phase angle measured at 50 kHz (R: -0.31; p = 0.03) and Z200/5 parameter (R: 0.34; p = 0.02). The analysis of CAD clinical parameters showed a significant correlation between NRS 2002 and Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) class (R: 0.37; p = 0.01). Left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) was correlated with BMI (R: 0.38; p = 0.02), however further BIA revealed hydration changes as LVEF was correlated to intracellular (ICF) and extracellular fluid (ECF) proportion: positively with ICF (R: 0.38; p = 0.02) and negatively with ECF (R: -0.39; p = 0.02).
Conclusions: NRS 2002 and BIA are valuable tools for nutritional status assessment in CAD patients. Malnutrition is related to the severity of CAD symptoms, particularly in women. Maintaining proper nutritional status can have a potentially important role in this group of patients.
Keywords: bioelectrical impedance analysis; cardiovascular disease; coronary artery disease; malnutrition; nutritional risk; nutritional status; phase angle.