The relationship between CONUT score and length of hospital stay in patients with Infective endocarditis

Demir Y., Yurdam F. S., Kış M.

Developments and experiments in health and medicine, cilt.40, sa.3, ss.328-336, 2026 (TRDizin)

Özet

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Infective endocarditis (IE) is a cardiac infection that is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates and serious complications, and is a growing public health problem. Hospital stays are often prolonged, especially due to the extended use of antimicrobial agents during treatment (4 to 6 weeks) and the need for surgical intervention during patient follow-up. The Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score is a scoring method that can be calculated easily and quickly and consisting of 3 parameters (albumin, lymphocyte, total cholesterol) that can be used to predict mortality and prognosis. This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the relationship between the CONUT score and the length of hospital stay in patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of IE. METHODS A total of 177 patients diagnosed with IE were screened retrospectively and consecutively included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups as those with mild malnutrition (Group 1: CONUT score 0-4) and those with moderate-to-severe malnutrition (Group 2: CONUT score 5-12). The CONUT score was calculated using the following formula: total cholesterol score + lymphocyte score + albumin score. The relationship between the duration of hospital stay and the CONUT score was analyzed using the Pearson correlation test. RESULTS In our study, 177 patients with IE were divided into 2 groups: Group 1 (mean age 56.6 ± 15.1 years, 63% male) and Group 2 (mean age 52.9 ± 15.3 years, 51% male). The albumin values of patients in Group 2 were statistically significantly lower (Group 1: 3.25 ± 0.72 g/L and Group 2: 2.79 ± 0.69 g/L, p < 0.001). Total cholesterol levels were statistically significantly lower in Group 2 (Group 1: 174 ± 44 mg/dL and Group 2: 150 ± 43 mg/dL, p < 0.001). The CONUT score was significantly higher in favor of Group 2 (Group 1: 2.39 ± 1.26 and Group 2: 7 ± 1.93, p < 0.001). A moderate, positive, and significant correlation was found between the length of stay and the CONUT score in patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of IE (r (177) = 0.639, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION In patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of IE, a high CONUT score, which can be easily calculated, is positively correlated with the length of hospital stay. Using the CONUT score, which can be easily calculated in patients with IE before hospitalization, may facilitate the development of new strategies. KEYWORDS CONUT score, duration, hospitalization, infective endocarditis