METHODS
A total of 394 consecutive oncology outpatients who were screened for nutritional status through nutritional
risk screening (NRS) 2002 during their admission to 12 radiation oncology centers across Turkey in October
2018 were included in this cross-sectional screening study. Data on cancer type, time of diagnosis (former
and newly diagnosed), and NRS 2002 scores were recorded. Patients with NRS 2002 scores ≥3 were considered
to be at risk of malnutrition necessitating the provision of nutritional intervention. NRS 2002 scores
were evaluated in the overall study population as well as according to cancer types and time of diagnosis.
RESULTS
NRS 2002 assessment (scores ?3) revealed 133 (33.8%) patients to be at risk for malnutrition. The highest
rates for malnutrition risk were noted for patients with lung cancer (43.8%), head-and-neck cancer
(43.5%), and gastrointestinal tumors (42.7%). Poor nutritional status was evident in 36.0% and 25.3% of
newly diagnosed and former cancer patients, respectively (p=0.067).
CONCLUSION
This screening study revealed malnutrition risk and need for nutritional intervention in 33.8% of cancer
patients, including 36.0% of newly diagnosed patients. A need for nutritional intervention was evident
in two out of every five patients with newly diagnosed cancer, emphasizing the importance of screening
for nutritional risk in every cancer patient at the time of initial diagnosis given the role of appropriate
multimodal nutritional intervention before anti-cancer therapy in the long-term success.
Keywords: Malnutrition risk; nutritional risk screening 2002; nutritional status; nutritional support; radiation oncology; screening
However, nutritional screening in cancer patients as
well as provision of nutritional support in those at risk
of malnutrition remain suboptimal and inadequately
addressed in clinical practice.[
Radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy are considered
likely to contribute to the additional deterioration
of the nutritional status in cancer patients,[
This cross-sectional screening study aimed to evaluate
nutritional status through NRS 2002 tool among
radiation oncology outpatients and was conducted in
collaboration with Turkish Society of Radiation Oncology
as an awareness-raising project within the context
of World Nutrition Day.
Written informed consent/assent was obtained from children and/or children's parents or legal guardian following a detailed explanation of the objectives and protocol. The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles stated in the "Declaration of Helsinki" and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committees.
Assessments
Statistical Analysis
Data on cancer type, time of diagnosis (former patients
and newly diagnosed patients), and NRS 2002 scores
were recorded in each patient. Patients with NRS 2002
scores ≥3 were considered to be at risk of malnutrition
necessitating the provision of nutritional intervention.
[
Statistical analysis was made using IBM SPSS Statistics
for Windows, version 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY).
Descriptive statistics are reported including percentages
for categorical variables. Chi-square (χ2) test was
used for the comparison of categorical data. P<0.05
was considered statistically significant.
Highest rates for malnutrition risk were noted for patients
with lung cancer (43.8%), head-and-neck cancer
(43.5%), gastrointestinal tumors (42.7%), gynecologic
cancer (33.3%), and urogenital tumors (33.3%) (Table
NRS 2002 Scores According to Time of Diagnosis
Overall, 78.9% of patients were newly diagnosed
cancer patients. No significant difference was noted
in nutritional status of cancer patients with respect
to date of diagnosis, and poor nutritional status was
evident in 36.0% and 25.3% of newly diagnosed and
formerly diagnosed patients, respectively (p=0.067)
(Table
Considering the specific cancer groups, a tendency
was noted for higher rate of poor nutritional
status in newly diagnosed versus former
cancer patients, particularly for lung cancer (39.6
vs. 4.2%), head-and-neck cancer (38.0 vs. 5.4%),
and gastrointestinal tumors (35.4 vs. 7.3%) (Table
Indeed, CRM is considered almost universal with
a prevalence that ranges from 40% at cancer diagnosis
to 70-80% in advanced disease stages, depending on the patient age and cancer type besides the disease
stage.[
The higher prevalence of malnutrition risk in our
patients with lung cancer (43.8%), head-and-neck cancer
(43.5%), and gastrointestinal tumors (42.7%), particularly
at the time of initial diagnosis, supports the
consistently reported data from the past studies regarding
increased likelihood of being at risk of malnutrition
in patients with gastrointestinal, head-and-neck,
and lung cancers than those with other types of cancer,
being also associated with a poor prognosis in these
patients.[
Likewise, in a multicenter cross-sectional Patient-
Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA)-
based nutritional screening study among 272 patients
with newly diagnosed cancer outpatients from Turkey,
severe and moderate malnutrition were noted in 29.4%
and 24.6% of patients, respectively.[
Notably, CRM is considered to be not merely synonymous
with weight loss but a multilayered process
of complex etiology that involves anorexia, inflammatory
processes, metabolic and endocrine alterations,
increased tissue protein turnover, and a chronic wasting
process resulting in progressive muscle depletion.
[
High rates for malnutrition risk among radiation
oncology patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer,
head-and-neck cancer, and gastrointestinal tumors in
the present study seem notable given that negative effects
of radiotherapy to head and neck or esophagus
(i.e., mucositis, decreased food intake, and weight loss)
in up to 80% of patients as well as association of radiotherapy
to the pelvic region with gastrointestinal
symptoms in up to 80% of patients.[
In addition, irradiation is likely cause an acutephase
response where cytokine cascades are triggered
following irradiation.[
Early nutritional intervention (before refractory
cachexia) has been reported to reverse the potential
adverse effects of CRM such as high rates of hospital
readmissions, longer hospital stays, poor treatment response
and poor tolerability, reduced quality of life, and
increased mortality in cancer patients.[
However, the CRM has not been adequately addressed
and its management remains suboptimal in
general oncology practice with the provision of appropriate
nutritional support only 30-60% of cancer
patients who were identified to be at risk of malnutrition.[
In fact, weight loss and muscle loss are commonly
considered as an inevitable consequence of progressive
tumor growth in the oncology practice and patient care
focus on better control of tumor growth rather than
nutritional intervention.[
Limitations of the Study
The major strength of this screening study seems
to be the inclusion of database on radiation oncology
cancer outpatients at 12 centers in Turkey with
t use of a standardize nutritional status screening
tool which enables our findings to be likely to be
generalizable based on presence of a representative
sample of overall population. However, certain limitations
to this study should be considered. First, due
to the cross-sectional design, it is impossible to establish
any cause-and-effect relationships. Second,
nutritional screening was based on single-point assessment
with no data on follow-up status with respect
to multimodal cancer treatment or provision of nutritional support. Third lack of detailed data on
patient and treatment characteristics is another limitation
which otherwise would extend the knowledge
achieved in the present study. Nonetheless, this was
a screening study conducted as an awareness-raising
project within the context of World Nutrition Day,
providing a snapshot of the nutritional status of radiation
oncology patients across Turkey.
Peer-review: Externally peer-reviewed.
Conflict of Interest: All authors declared no conflict of interest.
Ethics Committee Approval: It is a multicenter observation study, patients participated in this study by signing a consent form.
Financial Support: None declared.