[Hyponutrition prevalence among patients with digestive neoplasm before surgery].
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the prevalence and degree of hyponutrition among patients with resectable digestive neoplasm that will be submitted to surgery.


METHODS
Observational cross-sectional descriptive study carried out from november of 2005 to march of 2006, assessing the nutritional status of all patients aged > or = 18 years with resectable digestive neoplasm submitted to scheduled surgery at the General and Digestive Surgery Department of the Hospital Complex of Orense (Spain). Eighty patients were studied, 41 men and 39 women aged 27-92 years.


RESULTS
Diagnosis categorization was as follows: colonic neoplasm 27 patients, rectal neoplasm 24, gastric neoplasm 23, and pancreatic neoplasm 6. Fifty-three percent of the patients assessed had lost 5% of their usual weight within the previous 3 months. Serum albumin levels were lower than 3.5 mg/dL in 49% of the cases. Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment shows a hyponutrition prevalence of 50% (29% with moderate hyponutrition or at risk for hyponutrition and 21% with severe hyponutrition). Hyponutrition was related to age, increasing with increasing age (p < 0.05), and to the kind of digestive neoplasm (higher prevalence among patients with gastric neoplasm).


CONCLUSIONS
Hyponutrition prevalence among patients with resectable digestive neoplasm is high. There is a similarity between the relative data relating to percentage of weight loss, serum albumin levels, and nutritional assessment obtained by applying the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment. Further studies on hyponutrition prevalence among oncologic patients at our setting would be desirable.
Cid Conde
L
L
Servicio de Farmacia, Unidade de Nutrición, Servicio de Endocrinoloxía e Nutrición, Complexo Hospitalario de Ourense, España. lucidcon@hotmail.com
Fernández López
T
T
Neira Blanco
P
P
Arias Delgado
J
J
Varela Correa
J J
JJ
Gómez Lorenzo
F F
FF
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004067:Digestive System Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D015995:Prevalence; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D015431:Weight Loss
D012709:Serum Albumin