Correlation analysis between the Nutritional Risk Screening Tool (NRS-2002), and clinical efficacy and adverse events of concurrent chemoradiotherapy for the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of nutritional risk screening tool (NRS-2002) upon the clinical efficacy and survival outcomes in patients with unresectable locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (LAESCC) receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Methods Clinical data of 105 LAESCC patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy in Zhejiang Provincial People′s Hospital from January 2013 to December 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Nutritional status screening was performed using the NRS-2002 scale. The rate comparison was analyzed by using chi-square test. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was adopted to calculate the survival rate. Log-rank test was utilized to statistically analyze the differences in survival outcomes. Cox regression model was used for uni-and multi-variate analyses. Results Prior to concurrent chemoradiotherapy, 37.1% of patients had the nutritional risk. Patients with NRS-2002 score ≥3 had a significantly higher incidence of ≥ grade 3 toxic reactions compared with their counterparts obtaining NRS-2002 score of 1-2(P=0.007). The median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of all patients were 17.0 and 11.8 months. The OS and PFS of patients with NRS-2002 score ≥ 3 were significantly lower than those of their counterparts obtaining NRS-2002 score of 1-2(both P=0.000). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that NRS-2002 score of ≥3 was an independent prognostic factor for OS (P=0.000) and PFS (P=0.001). Conclusions NRS-2002 tool reveals that patients with esophageal cancer possess a relatively high nutritional risk. Prior to treatment, NRS-2002 score of ≥3 is significantly correlated with an increasing risk of toxic reactions and decreasing survival rate, which is worthy of subsequent investigation. Key words: Esophageal neoplasms/concurrent chemoradiotherapy; Nutritional risk screening tool; Prognosis