Utility of the modified nutritional risk in the critically ill score as an outcome predictor in all-cause acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute febrile illness-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome

Introduction: Nutritional risk in the Critically Ill (NUTRIC) score is a predictor of adverse outcomes in the critically ill, and its utility in a specific population of critically ill has been recommended. We aimed to study the utility of modified NUTRIC (mNUTRIC) score as a mortality predictor in acute febrile illness (AFI)-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and all-cause ARDS patients. Methods: We recorded data from two prospective observational ARDS studies conducted at a single-center tertiary care hospital to evaluate the utility of the mNUTRIC score as an independent mortality predictor in all-cause ARDS and AFI-ARDS. A total of 216 all-cause ARDS patients were included, of which 73 were AFI-ARDS and 143 were non-AFI ARDS. Results: Mortality of AFI-ARDS was 16/73 (21.9%) compared to 62/143 (43.35%) in non-AFI ARDS (P = 0.002). There were no significant differences in severity of ARDS in AFI-ARDS and non-AFI ARDS groups (P = 0.504). The mNUTRIC score was found to be an independent predictor of mortality in all-cause ARDS patients (n = 216) and AFI-ARDS patients (n = 73) after Cox regression multivariable analysis. In all-cause ARDS, the mNUTRIC score had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.778, cutoff ≥4, 82.1% sensitivity, and 65.9% specificity as a predictor of mortality. In AFI-ARDS, the mNUTRIC score had an AUC of 0.769, cutoff ≥4, 81.3% sensitivity, 66.67% specificity, and P = 0.001 as a predictor of mortality. Conclusion: The mNUTRIC score is an independent mortality predictor for all-cause ARDS and AFI-ARDS patients. AFI-ARDS has significantly lesser mortality than non-AFI ARDS.