Nutrition assessment and adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients with tuberculosis

Background: Malnutrition in patients with tuberculosis (TB) is associated with poor outcomes. This study assessed the validity of the patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) in adult TB patients and examined the association of the PG-SGA score with adverse outcomes. Methods: This is a retrospective chart review study compared with the well-nourished and malnourished TB patients. The nutritional status was determined using the PG-SGA for adult patients (n = 128). Clinical outcomes included liver injury and mortality. Adverse outcomes included hepatitis during anti-tuberculosis therapy. Results: By comparing nutritional status using global assessment, well-nourished patients had a significantly higher body weight index (p = 0.002), a lower PG-SGA score (p <0.001), and lower diabetic rate (p = 0.029). Malnourishment was a risk factor (p = 0.022) for liver injury and fatal outcomes (p <0.001). A higher PG-SGA score was a risk factor for liver injury (p = 0.002) and an independent risk factor for fatal outcomes (p = 0.031). ROC analysis for outcome prediction showed that a PG-SGA score of 5.5 points yielded the most appropriate sensitivity (61.5%) and specificity (64.7%). Conclusion: Both global assessment and the total PG-SGA score were related to tuberculosis outcome and liver injury during anti-TB treatment.