Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score as a predictive marker for short-term complications following gastrectomy of gastric cancer: a retrospective study

• Main Authors: Feng Sun, Chen Zhang, Zhijian Liu, Shichao Ai, Wenxian Guan, Song Liu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2021-03-01
• Series: BMC Gastroenterology
• Subjects: CONUT; Postoperative complications; Gastric cancer
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12876-021-01682-z

Abstract Background It is well established that the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score was correlated with long-term outcomes in gastric cancer (GC), but the significance of CONUT for postoperative short-term outcomes remains unclear. The study aimed to characterize the relationship between CONUT and short-term complications following gastrectomy of GC. Methods We collected data on 1479 consecutive GC patients at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital between January 2016 and December 2018. Univariate and multivariate analyses of predictive factors for postoperative complications were performed. The cutoff value of the CONUT score was determined by Youden index. Results Among all of the patients, 431 (29.3%) patients encountered postoperative complications. Multivariate analyses identified CONUT was an independent predictor for postoperative short-term complications (OR 1.156; 95% CI 1.077–1.240; P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis elucidated that CONUT was related to postoperative complications both in early gastric cancer and advanced gastric cancer. We further explored that patients with high CONUT score had prolonged hospital stay (12.3 ± 6.0 vs 11.1 ± 4.6, P < 0.001) and more total hospital charges (7.6 ± 2.4 vs 7.1 ± 1.6, P < 0.001). Conclusions The present study demonstrated that the preoperative CONUT was an independent predictor for short-term complications following gastrectomy of GC.