Eating Issues in Palliative Cancer Patients

Abstract

AbstractEating issues are common in palliative care cancer patients. They accompany cancer cachexia, the debilitating syndrome associated with muscle wasting, involuntary weight loss, physical decline, fatigue, and poor appetite. These symptoms have emotional and social impact. They can adversely affect health-related quality of life in patients with advanced and progressing disease. The health and well-being of family members of patients with the syndrome can also be adversely affected. This chapter gives a brief overview of cancer cachexia syndrome, considers treatments, its emotional and social impact, and the measurement of associated distress. The authors draw on a systematic search of literature about psychosocial support for patients with cachexia to present a framework of factors that can influence quality of life and present a measure of cachexia-related distress in patients with advanced cancer. The chapter concludes by considering the implications for palliative care clinicians. In the absence of treatment for cancer cachexia, attention to psychosocial factors affecting cachexia-related quality of life is key to improvement in cachexia care.