Abstract
To evaluate the nutritional profile of cancer patients treated at an oncology center in South Brazil. This is a descriptive, exploratory and sectional study that was developed in a process that involved 100 patients aged between 18 and 75 years old, suffering from cancer. The anthropometric variables studied were weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI), arm circumference (AC), arm muscle circumference (AMC), triceps skinfold (TSF) and corrected arm muscle area (cAMA). For subjective nutritional assessment, we used the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). Nearly half of the patients evaluated had a critical need for nutritional intervention. There was a statistically significant association between cAMA and marital status, age and gender; between AC and age, gender and staging; between AMC and staging; between BMI and marital status and age; and between TSF and marital status. Patients diagnosed with IV stage had the lowest values for nutritional variables. There was no significant association between nutritional status of patients obtained by the PG-SGA instrument and sociodemographic characteristics. Malnutrition should be diagnosed as soon as possible, aiming at early intervention and improving survival and quality of life. Therefore, early nutritional assessment in cancer patients is required, combining subjective and objective methods.
Highlights
IntroductionThere are evidences that a balanced diet, rich in natural food and limited in ultra-processed food, can prevent up to four million new cases of cancer per year worldwide (Santos, 2018)
The present study aimed to assess, objectively and subjectively, the nutritional profile of ambulatory cancer patients treated at an oncology center in the south region of Brazil
Other tools have been described in the literature, such as the NRS-2002 instrument, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA)
Summary
There are evidences that a balanced diet, rich in natural food and limited in ultra-processed food, can prevent up to four million new cases of cancer per year worldwide (Santos, 2018). Malignant neoplasms are associated with evident metabolic and nutritional changes, including intense catabolism, immune dysfunction, weight loss and lean body mass loss (Chindaprasirt, 2015). The assessment and diagnosis of the cancer patient’s nutritional risks allow to improve the prognosis by avoiding the establishment of real malnutrition (Lennon, Sperrin, Badrick, & Renehan, 2016). Many neoplasms were considered associated with the obesity, such as breast, endometrial, ovarian, prostatic, colon, renal cell, pancreatic, liver, gallbladder and esophageal adenocarcinomas (Silva et al, 2018)
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