Relationship of the preoperative NRS 2002 score, PG-SGA score, and serum indices with postoperative complications in patients with gastric cancer

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Objective To examine the utility of the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002), Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and serum factors for the preoperative evaluation of gastric cancer patients. Methods We examined 181 gastric cancer patients treated at the First Afliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from January 2015 to January 2018. Nutritional assessments were administered within 48 h of admission. The body mass index (BMI) and serum factors were measured, and information on preoperative nutritional support and postoperative complications was recorded. Results Both the NRS 2002 and PG-SGA had positive correlations with age (P < 0.05), and negative correlations with albumin, prealbumin, transferrin, hemoglobin, BMI, and bodyweight (P < 0.05). The NRS 2002 and PG-SGA scores were positively correlated with each other (r = 0.683, P < 0.01), but had poor consistency (κ = 0.357, P < 0.01). During the preoperative period, 33.2% of patients received nutritional support, mainly enteral nutrition. The nutritional risk group (NRS 2002 ≥ 3) received more support than the group without nutritional risk (NRS 2002 < 3; P < 0.05). Patients with nutritional risk or malnutrition who received preoperative nutritional support had fewer postoperative complications than unsupported patients. The overall rate of complications was 12.2%, and the rate of severe complications (grade Ⅲ or above) was 5.5%. The malnutrition and nutritional risk groups had higher rates of severe complications. Conclusions The combined application of the NRS 2002, PG-SGA, BMI, and serum nutritional indices was useful for the nutritional screening and assessment of preoperative gastric cancer patients. The NRS 2002 and PG-SGA provided guidance on the need for nutritional support during the preoperative period.