The Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool Is an Independent Predictor of Deterioration of Liver Function and Survival in Cirrhosis. Borhofen Sarah Maria,Gerner Carmen,Lehmann Jennifer,Fimmers Rolf,Görtzen Jan,Hey Beate,Geiser Franziska,Strassburg Christian P,Trebicka Jonel Digestive diseases and sciences BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Malnutrition might affect survival and severity of complications in cirrhotic patients. However, adequate evaluation of the nutritional status is a difficult task since the common assessment tools are either inappropriate or too complicated. A simpler method could evaluate the patient's risk for malnutrition instead of the nutritional status itself. This study evaluated the prediction of clinical deterioration and transplant-free survival in patients with chronic liver disease by two nutritional risk scores. METHODS:In 84 cirrhotic patients, Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS), Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT), and the chronic liver disease questionnaire have been assessed. These patients were evaluated at a second time point after a median observation time of 500 days. Another cohort of 64 patients was collected to validate the findings. RESULTS:Of the included patients, 67.7 % were male with a median age of 57 years and a median Child score of 9. RFH-NPT classified 50.7 % of the patients as high-risk patients, and NRS assessed 44.6 % of the patients as moderate- to high-risk patients. RFH-NPT correlated with clinical deterioration, severity of disease (Child score, MELD score), and clinical complications such as ascites, hepatorenal syndrome, and episodes of hepatic encephalopathy. RFH-NPT was an independent predictor of clinical deterioration and transplant-free survival. Furthermore, improvement in RFH-NPT within 500 days was associated with improved survival. CONCLUSION:Assessing the patients' risk for malnutrition by RFH-NPT may be a useful predictor of disease progression and outcome for patients with chronic liver disease. 10.1007/s10620-015-4015-z

Validation of Malnutrition Screening Tools in Liver Cirrhosis. Nutrients Malnutrition in liver cirrhosis is frequently underestimated. To determine if a patient is at risk of malnutrition, several screening tools have been established. However, most of them are not validated for patients with liver cirrhosis. Therefore, we compared the RFH-NPT (Royal Free Hospital Nutritional Prioritizing Tool) as the validated gold standard for malnutrition screening in cirrhosis patients with GMS (Graz Malnutrition Screening), NRS-2002 (Nutritional Risk Screening) and MNA-SF (Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form). Based on common validity criteria for screening tools, only the MNA-SF showed fair correlation (12/15 points) with the RFH-NPT, whereas NRS-2002 and GMS performed worse (6/15 points). Taken together, our results suggest that NRS-2002 and GMS are not suitable for screening of malnutrition in cirrhosis patients. A cirrhosis-specific screening tool like RFH-NPT should be used to assess malnutrition and to identify those at risk of malnutrition. 10.3390/nu12051306

Mini Nutritional Assessment - Short Form Is a Useful Malnutrition Screening Tool in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis, Using the Global Leadership Initiative for Malnutrition Criteria as the Gold Standard. Casas Deza Diego,Betoré Glaria María Elena,Sanz-París Alejandro,Lafuente Blasco Miguel,Fernández Bonilla Eva María,Bernal Monterde Vanesa,Arbonés Mainar José Miguel,Fuentes Olmo Javier Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition BACKGROUND:The use of nutrition-screening tools in cirrhotic patients is not systematized. Recently, specific tools have been proposed for patients with cirrhosis, but their diagnostic capabilities have been scarcely studied. METHODS:This was a prospective study that includes outpatients with liver cirrhosis undergoing follow-up in the hepatology consultations of a tertiary-care university hospital. A trained gastroenterologist applied the screening tools: Liver Disease Universal Screening Tool (LDUST), Royal Free Hospital-Nutrition Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT), and Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF). Subsequently, the diagnosis of malnutrition was made according to Global Leadership Initiative for Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria by an endocrinologist, who was blind to the results of the screening tools. RESULTS:Sixty-three patients (38.1% women, mean age 63.1 ± 9.9 years) with cirrhosis (60.3% Child-Pugh A, 34.9% Child-Pugh B, and 4.8% Child-Pugh C) were evaluated. The prevalence of malnutrition was 38.1% (15.9% moderate, 22.2% severe). Advanced stages of cirrhosis were associated with a higher prevalence of malnutrition (P = .021). MNA-SF was the most accurate screening tool, being superior to RFH-NPT and LDUST. It presented better sensitivity than RFH-NPT (88% [0.68-0.97] vs 67% [0.45-0.84], P = .031) and better specificity than both LDUST (97% [0.87-0.99] vs 62% [0.45-0.77], P < .001) and RFH-NPT (97% [0.87-0.99] vs 82% [0.67-0.93], P = .016). CONCLUSIONS:According to the GLIM criteria, malnutrition affected 38.1% of patients with cirrhosis, being severe in 22% of the patients. MNA-SF is the most accurate screening test, superior even to tools specifically designed for cirrhotic patients (LDUST). 10.1002/ncp.10640

Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool improves the prediction of malnutrition risk outcomes in liver cirrhosis patients compared with Nutritional Risk Screening 2002. Wu Yuchao,Zhu Yage,Feng Yali,Wang Ruojing,Yao Naijuan,Zhang Mengmeng,Liu Xiaohui,Liu Huan,Shi Lei,Zhu Li,Yang Nan,Chen Hongmei,Liu Jinfeng,Zhao Yingren,Yang Yuan The British journal of nutrition The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) guidelines recommend the Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT) to identify malnutrition risk in patients with liver disease. However, little is known about the application of the RFH-NPT to screen for the risk of malnutrition in China, where patients primarily suffer from hepatitis virus-related cirrhosis. A total of 155 cirrhosis patients without liver cancer or uncontrolled co-morbid illness were enrolled in this prospective study. We administered the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002), RFH-NPT, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and Liver Disease Undernutrition Screening Tool (LDUST) to the patients within 24 h after admission and performed follow-up observations for 1·5 years. The RFH-NPT and NRS-2002 had higher sensitivities (64·8 and 52·4 %) and specificities (60 and 70 %) than the other tools with regard to screening for malnutrition risk in cirrhotic patients. The prevalence of nutritional risk was higher under the use of the RFH-NPT against the NRS-2002 (63 v. 51 %). The RFH-NPT tended more easily to detect malnutrition risk in patients with advanced Child-Pugh classes (B and C) and lower Model for End-stage Liver Disease scores (<15) compared with NRS-2002. RFH-NPT score was an independent predictive factor for mortality. Patients identified as being at high malnutrition risk with the RFH-NPT had a higher mortality rate than those at low risk; the same result was not obtained with the NRS-2002. Therefore, we suggest that using the RFH-NPT improves the ability of clinicians to predict malnutrition risk in patients with cirrhosis primarily caused by hepatitis virus infection at an earlier stage. 10.1017/S0007114520002366