Objective: This study aimed to investigate the applicability of the NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill and modified NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill with C-reactive protein scores for assessing nutritional risks and predicting outcomes of these critically ill coro- navirus disease 2019 patients.

Methods: This retrospective study included 246 adult patients admitted to the intensive care unit between March 15, 2020, and August 15, 2021, diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 which was confirmed with real-time-polymerase chain reaction, and who received invasive mechanical ventilation. Treatments in the intensive care unit and clinical outcomes of the patients were recorded. The nutritional risk for each patient was assessed using both the NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill and the modified NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill with C-reactive protein scores. If the NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill and modified NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill with C-reactive protein scores were ≥6, and the nutritional risk was considered to be high.

Results: The median age was 68 (21-93) years, and 61% of them were male. The median duration of invasive mechanical ven- tilation was 9 (1-62) days, the median length of stay in intensive care unit was 15 (1-65) days, and the mortality rate in 28 days was 77.2%. Most of the patients had low nutritional risk according to NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill score (75.2%) and modi- fied NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill with C-reactive protein score (69.1%). High NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill and modified NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill with C-reactive protein scores were not significantly associated with the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, length of stay in intensive care unit, and mortality at 28 days.

Conclusion: It was shown that NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill and modified NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill with C-reactive protein scores were not correlated with the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, length of stay in intensive care unit, and 28-day mortality in critically ill coronavirus-19 patients. NUTrition Risk in the Critically Ill score was not an appropriate nutrition risk assessment tool as a prognostic marker in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, which is correlated to interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels.

Keywords: Intensive care, nutrition, NUTRIC score, modify NUTRIC score, prognosis