Incidence, mortality and hospital resource utilization in patients with gastrointestinal cancer and malnutrition: A nationwide analysis.

Abstract

466 Background: Malignancies are associated with a high prevalence of cachexia, protein energy malnutrition (PEM) and failure to thrive. We analyzed the National inpatient Sample database (NIS) to understand the temporal trends and differences between gastrointestinal cancers (GIC) patients with and without malnutrition. Methods: All adults admitted with GIC including esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, hepatic, gall bladder, small and large intestine and anal cancers from 2012-2016 were identified from the NIS using the ICD 9 and ICD 10 codes. We analyzed the temporal trends of mortality and resource utilization. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the risk factors for malnutrition in patients with GIC. Results: There were 2,645,285 GIC inpatient admissions between 2012-2016, out of which 6.1% patients died. 11.1% (±0.22) patients had PEM and three most common GIC associated with PEM were Esophageal (19.7±0.24%), gastric (16.5±0.22%) and small intestine (15.2±0.41%). On multivariate analysis, PEM was more common in male gender (OR: 1.07, 95% CI:1.05-1.08, P<0.01), African- American race (OR:1.14, 95% CI: 1.10-1.17, P<0.01) and Charlson comorbidity index >=2(OR:1.5, 95% 1.42-1.51, P<0.01). Malnourished patients were often terminally ill (48.8% vs 39.8%), in intensive care unit (7.89% vs 3.75%), were more likely to be seen by palliative care team (17.6 % vs 9.8%) and were more likely to die (9.6% vs 5.70%, OR-1.76; p <0.01). The incidence, mortality, and total charge of PEM in patients with GIC significantly increased from 2012 to 2016 as shown in the table below. Conclusions: Malnourished patients with GIC tend to have more advanced disease and have an increased mortality as compared to patients with adequate nutritional status. Optimization of their nutritional status can greatly improve outcomes and curb healthcare costs. [Table: see text]