Association between temporal muscle thickness and malnutrition among elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke

Abstract

Objective: We examined the association between temporal muscle thickness (TMT) and malnutrition as evaluated by Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), and to clarify which TMT that predicts malnutrition in elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study among patients with acute ischemic stroke and aged 65 years or older. GNRI classified participants with a score of below 92 as the malnutrition group, and those with a score of 92 or above as normal nutritional status group. We examined whether TMT was associated with GNRI by multivariable-adjusted regression model. Additionally, we calculated the cut-off value for TMT to identify malnutrition, and then verified whether this cut-off value was associated with malnutrition.

Results: This study included 270 participants, of whom 61 (22.6%) had malnutrition. TMT was significantly lower in the malnutrition group and remained independently associated with GNRI after multivariable adjustment. The optimal cut-off value of TMT to identify malnutrition was 1.67 mm/m2. In the multivariable-adjusted logistic regression analysis, this cut-off value was associated with malnutrition when adjusted for covariates.

Conclusion: Among elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke, the cut-off value of TMT to identify malnutrition was 1.67 mm/m2. This cut-off value was independently associated with malnutrition. This study indicated that TMT could be used to predict the risk of malnutrition in this population.