Objective To investigate the predictive value of pre-treatment prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and nutrition-related indicators on the prognosis of patients with brain glioma.

Methods The clinical data of 210 patients with brain glioma admitted to two hospitals in Yibin City from January 2015 to December 2020 were retrospectively collected, with the follow-up deadline on December 30, 2022. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) and the optimal cut-off value of each indicator for predicting patients′prognosis. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to plot the survival curve, and the influencing factors of prognosis of patients were explored through Log-rank test and multivariate Cox regression analysis.

Results The average overall survival time of 210 patients was 21.8 months, and 140 patients (66.7%) died during the follow-up period, with a 1-year survival rate of 54.6%. ROC curve analysis results showed that the AUCs of albumin, prealbumin, lymphocytes, PNI, and body mass index for predicting the prognosis of patients with brain glioma were 0.856, 0.689, 0.833, 0.927, and 0.647, with the optimal cut-off values of 36.0 g/L, 205.0 mg/L, 1.85×10⁹/L, 46.5, and 21.0 kg/m², respectively. The results of multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that PNI, albumin, and World Health Organization (WHO) grading were all influencing factors for the prognosis of patients with brain glioma (P < 0.05). The survival curve analysis results showed that the 1-year survival rates of patients with PNI < 46.5 and PNI≥46.5 were 35.1% and 84.2%, respectively, were 35.8% and 74.3%, respectively in patients with albumin < 36.0 g/L and albumin ≥ 36.0 g/L, and were 90.2%, 55.2%, and 16.3%, respectively in patients with WHO grades of Ⅱ, Ⅲ, and Ⅳ.

Conclusion The prognosis of patients with brain glioma is related to PNI, albumin, and WHO grading, and PNI has a high predictive value for the prognosis of patients with brain glioma.