ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1633212
Status quo, influencing factors, and association with hospitalization outcomes of malnutrition in neurological disorders in China: a national cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Tiantan Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 2National Institute of Hospital Administration, Beijing, China
- 3Beijing Anzhen Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background In recent years, the issue of malnutrition in people with neurological disorders has emerged as a growing concern. However, there is still a lack of global research on the current status of malnutrition in these disorders in China, which warrants further investigation. This study aims to clarify the prevalence of malnutrition in these disorders, evaluate its contributing factors, and assess its impact on hospitalization outcomes. Method Based on the China Nutrition Fundamental Data 2020 (CNFD 2020) Project, this nationwide survey was conducted from February to October 2023 across 31 provincial-level administrative regions of China, utilizing questionnaires for data collection. The study included 1,357 patients with neurological diseases, whose nutritional status was systematically assessed using the standardized Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) diagnostic framework. Statistical analyses were performed using descriptive statistics, multivariate logistic regression, random forest, Kruskal-Wallis test and multiple linear regression. Results The overall prevalence of malnutrition in patients with neurological disorders was 32.5%, including 30.8% moderate malnutrition and 1.7% severe malnutrition. Multivariate logistic regression identified neutrophil percentage (OR=1.026, P<0.001, 95%CI: 1.015-1.038) and western region (OR=1.319, P<0.001, 95%CI: 1.002-1.734) as significant influencing factors for malnutrition. Random forest analysis showed that lymphocyte percentage, red blood cell count and education level ranked highest in SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values. Boxplot analysis demonstrated that malnutrition status may increase both length of stay and hospitalization costs. Conclusions Malnutrition is prevalent in patients with neurological disorders, with neutrophil percentage, lymphocyte percentage, red blood cell count, region, and education level identified as significant contributing factors. Malnutrition may be associated with increased length of stay and hospitalization costs.
Keywords: Malnutrition, neurological disorders, GLIM, Prevalence, influencing factor, Hospitalization outcome
Received: 22 May 2025; Accepted: 14 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lan, Guo, Han, Zhai, Liu, Li, Zhang and Dong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xudong Zhang, zhangxudong@cfsa.net.cn
Siping Dong, sipingd@163.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.