How Does Nutritional Status Affect Outcomes in Patients with Neurological Diseases?

Background: to evaluate the nutritional status of patients with neurological diseases during the rehabilitation process and to investigate the relationships between the nutritional status and disease severity and clinical evaluation outcomes. methods: in this prospective trial, 109 patients with a disease duration of <6 months, hospitalized for neurological rehabilitation in physical medicine and rehabilitation clinic, ankara, turkey were enrolled from 2014-17. all patients were assessed with the mini mental state examination (mmse) test, european quality of life scale (euro-qol), hospital anxiety and depression scale (hads), pittsburg rehabilitation participation scale (prps), and functional ambulation category (fac). nutritional status was analyzed by biochemical and anthropometric parameters. the patients received a conventional rehabilitation program and a nutritional support according to clinical and laboratory findings for 4 weeks. the outcome data were evaluated at baseline and at the end of 4-week treatment. results: linear regressions analysis revealed that the significant independent predictors that associated positively with baseline insulin (p=0.010) and negatively with baseline cortisol (p=0.020) levels were brunnstrom upper and hand stages. additionally, the significant independent predictor that associated positively with base-line insulin (p=0.041) was brunnstrom lower stage. conclusion: insulin and cortisol levels may be predictors in motor function recovery of stroke patients in rehabilitation process. early detection and treatment of malnutrition both during hospitalization and follow-up might be important for the improvement of outcomes.