AUTHOR=Huang Xian-Wen , Luo Jian-Jing , Baldinger Beatrice TITLE=The controlling nutritional status score and clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure: Pool analysis of observational studies JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2022.961141 DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2022.961141 ISSN=2297-055X ABSTRACT=Background and Aims: Malnutrition is very in patients with heart failure (HF) and is associated with a worse clinical outcome. The Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score is an easily derived index for the evaluation of malnutrition. This study aimed to evaluate the association between the CONUT score and the prognosis in patients with HF. Methods and Results: Electronic databases were searched for potential studies from inception up to February 15, 2022. Observational cohort studies included adult participants with HF, and reported the associations between CONUT score and the adjusted relative risk (RR) of all-cause mortality and composite major adverse cardiac outcomes (MACEs) patients were included. We finally included 18 studies comprising 12,532 participants with HF for analysis. The median age of the patients was 70.5 years old, and 35.4% were female. After a median follow-up duration of 32.5 months, HF patients with higher CONUT score was associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality (per 1 increment of CONUT score: RR 1.21, 95% CI 1.13-1.29, I2=68%, P for heterogeneity=0.002) and MACEs (per 1 increment of CONUT score: RR 1.14, 95% CI 1.06-1.23, I2=81%, P for heterogeneity <0.0001), after adjusting for other prognostic factors. When the CONUT score was divided into the normal nutritional status and malnourished status, malnourished HF patients were associated with increased risks of all-cause death (RR 1.61, 95% CI 1.40-1.85, I2=17%, P for heterogeneity =0.29) and MACEs (RR 2.12, 95% CI 1.49-3.02, I2=87%, P for heterogeneity <0.0001), compared with those with normal nutritional status. Conclusions: The CONUT score is associated with the clinical outcomes in patients with HF, and can be used as a screening tool of nutritional status in HF to improve prognosis.