Background: Research has provided evidence that malnutrition screening tool (NUTRIC) score has a relation with interleukin-6 but not with other cytokines. In addition, the relation between malnutrition screening tool (NUTRIC) score and some nutritional parameters has not yet been studied in traumatic head injured patients. Therefore, the aim of the current study is examining the relation between malnutrition screening tool (NUTRIC) score and serum pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines levels and some nutritional parameters in patients with traumatic head injury in the intensive care unit (ICU) of General Teaching Hospital in Sulaimani, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 2016-17.

Methods: Using appropriate methods and tools, the patients’ (NUTRIC) score, mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), disease severity and organ dysfunction, concentration level of serum cytokines (IL-6) were assessed within 24 hours after admission. All of the mentioned measurements except the serum interleukin were also assessed on days 6 and 13 of staying in ICU. Afterwards, in order to examine the relationship between the study’s variables, the collected data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test through SPSS 22.0.

Results: The results of data analysis using Mann-Whitney U and independent samples T-tests revealed that there was a significant relation between malnutrition screening tool (NUTRIC) score and the studied interleukin (IL-6) within 24 hours after ICU admission. Other studied variables that had a significant association with the patients’ (NUTRIC) score within 24 hours after ICU admission were APACHE II score, SOFA score, and MUAC, this significant association has been seen on days 6 and 13 after ICU admission between malnutrition screening tool (NUTRIC) score and serum cytokines (IL-6) APACHE II, and SOFA scores.

Conclusion: The results of the present study revealed that pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6) along with other factors such as APACHE II and SOFA had significantly higher among patients with risk of malnutrition.

Keywords: pro-inflammatory cytokines, traumatic head injury (THI), nutritional score