Association between GNRI and Mortality Risk in the Elderly: An Analysis of NHANES Data

Abstract

Abstract Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) is a simple tool to assess nutritional status in the elderly. Current research on the dose-response relationship between GNRI and mortality risk, especially with different causes of death, in the elderly is limited.10,617 participants aged ≥ 60 years were included from NHANES 2005–2016, with 7,063 excluded for inability to calculate GNRI, leaving 3,454 finally enrolled. They were divided into high nutritional risk (GNRI < 82), moderate nutritional risk (82 ≤ GNRI < 92), low nutritional risk (92 ≤ GNRI ≤ 98) and no nutritional risk (GNRI > 98) groups by GNRI levels. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality and secondary outcomes were cancer mortality and cardiovascular mortality. The correlations between GNRI and mortality risks were evaluated using Cox regression and restricted cubic spline models. Compared with the optimal GNRI group, the high nutritional risk group had 65% increased all-cause mortality, 4 times the cardiovascular mortality, and 2.5 times the cancer mortality. GNRI was linearly and negatively correlated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, while the correlation with cancer mortality was weaker. GNRI was negatively associated with mortality risk especially cardiovascular mortality in the elderly, and is an effective tool for assessing mortality risk in this population.