PP080-MON: Evolution of the Prevalence of Malnutrition and its Treatment in Patients with Cancer

Abstract

Rationale: This study aimed to compare the prevalence of malnutrition and nutritional care between two one-day surveys, Nutricancer 1 (N1) [1] and Nutricancer 2 (N2), completed respectively in 2005 and 2012. Methods: In N1 and N2 the characteristics of the cancer, treatment, performance status (PS), body weight and BMI were evaluated in patients present that day in hospital. Malnutrition was defined as BMI 5% in 1 month or 10% in 6 months. Patients filled questionnaires regarding the nutritional care. Results: In N1 and N2, respectively, 1.903 and 2.197 patients (59±13 vs 62±13 yrs) were studied. The main locations of cancer were haematology (20% vs 10%), GI (17% vs 32%), ENT (19% vs 13%), breast (12% vs 15%) or lung (13% vs 10%). The cancer was metastatic in 44% vs 55% of patients and the PS was >2 in 23% vs 15%. In N1 and N2 the prevalence of malnutrition was similar (39%). It was respectively, 67% vs 54% for pancreas, 60% vs 53% for upper GI tract, 49% vs 42% for ENT, 45% vs 41% for lung, 39% vs 35% for colon/rectum, 34% vs 46% for haematology and 20% vs 21% for breast (NS). In 2005 and 2012, respectively, 55% vs 69% of patients reported having nutritional support (59% vs 86% for malnourished and 28% vs 58% for non-malnourished patients; P< 0.05). Dietary advice (68% vs 89%, P< 0.05) and oral nutritional support (44% vs 50%, P< 0.05) improved significantly; enteral nutrition decreased (25% vs 17%, P< 0.05) and parenteral nutrition remained stable (18% vs 16%, NS). Improvement of nutritional support was greater (P< 0.05) for ENT (72% vs 85%), haematology (51% vs 63%) and lung cancers (50% vs 70%). Conclusion: In 7 yrs in France, the prevalence of malnutrition remained stable in cancer patients but the use of dietary advice and nutritional supplements increased. These encouraging results suggest an awareness of the nutrition problem in oncology.