{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,26]],"date-time":"2026-09-26T18:00:40Z","timestamp":1790445640871,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,27]],"date-time":"2026-06-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782518400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Cachexia is a systemic wasting syndrome associated with poor outcomes in chronic diseases, including heart failure (HF). Although the cachexia index (CXI), which integrates skeletal muscle mass, serum albumin, and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, has shown prognostic value in oncology, its clinical significance in HF remains poorly defined. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single-center cohort study evaluated a selected subgroup of adults hospitalized with decompensated heart failure between January 2020 and January 2025 who had undergone abdominal computed tomography within the preceding 6 months, enabling CT-based body composition assessment. Skeletal muscle index was measured at the L3 vertebral level, and CXI was calculated as (SMI \u00d7 serum albumin)\/neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. Patients were followed for all-cause mortality and HF-related rehospitalizations. Results: A total of 127 patients were included (mean age 70.45 \u00b1 12.73 years; 51.2% male). CXI showed excellent discrimination for mortality (AUC 0.951; 95% CI 0.905\u20130.996), with an optimal cut-off value of &lt;20.87. Patients with low CXI had significantly higher all-cause mortality (80.5% vs. 4.7%, p &lt; 0.001) and more HF-related hospitalizations [4 (3\u20135) vs. 0.5 (0\u20131), p &lt; 0.001] than those with high CXI. Conclusions: In patients hospitalized with decompensated HF, low CXI was strongly associated with all-cause mortality and recurrent hospitalization, suggesting that CXI may serve as an integrative prognostic marker in this population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina62071246","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T00:54:42Z","timestamp":1782694482000},"page":"1246","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The Prognostic Impact of the Cachexia Index in Patients Hospitalized with Heart Failure"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"62","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7592-3075","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vahit Can","family":"Cavdar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3839-3201","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hidayet Ozan","family":"Arabaci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Yuksekova State Hospital, 30300 Hakkari, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1728-7162","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zafer","family":"Guven","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Deparment of Cardiology, Gaziosmanpasa Training and Research Hospital, 34255 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3927-321X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emine","family":"Meltem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34668 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-6177-0256","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hatice","family":"Ozkul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-7072-6792","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ayse","family":"Satilmisoglu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-5829-5414","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kader","family":"Onay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-9844-4169","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elif","family":"Kilic Dinler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2602-4559","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ismail Can","family":"Ciftci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3253-677X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yalcin","family":"Gokmen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-7015-6736","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mert","family":"Aric","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Beylikduzu State Hospital, 34500 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2881-6522","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ayli","family":"Heydari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4164-8319","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cagdas","family":"Kaya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-1276-3889","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Veysi","family":"Kapagan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-1405-6365","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eser Onur","family":"Cakir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34096 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0268-9641","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmet","family":"Oz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, 34098 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1824","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2023.03.028","article-title":"Cachexia: A systemic consequence of progressive, unresolved disease","volume":"186","author":"Ferrer","year":"2023","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1193","DOI":"10.1007\/s11605-008-0505-z","article-title":"Cachexia worsens prognosis in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer","volume":"12","author":"Bachmann","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. 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