The nutritional risk in oncology: a study of 1,453 cancer outpatients.
OBJECTIVE
There is little information about the nutritional status of cancer outpatients because the practice of nutritional screening is rarely performed. This study aims to define the pattern of scores of nutritional risk in 1,453 outpatients and factors associated with a high nutrition risk score, to facilitate the identification of such patients by the oncologists.


METHODS
We prospectively screened the nutritional status of cancer outpatients according to the NRS-2002 score which combines indicators of malnutrition and of severity of the disease (1-3 points, respectively). A score ≥ 3 indicates "nutritional risk". The association of the nutritional scores with some patient/tumour/therapy-related variables was investigated through univariable and multivariable linear regression models.


RESULTS
Thirty-two percent of outpatients were at nutritional risk. Primary tumour site, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score and presence of anorexia or fatigue were significantly associated with the nutrition risk score. Depending on the combination of these variables, it was possible to estimate different probabilities of nutritional risk.


CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of a relevant nutritional risk was higher than expected considering the favourably selected population. The nutritional risk was associated with common clinical variables which are usually recorded in the charts and could easily alert the oncologist on the need of a further nutritional assessment or a nutritional support.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Federico
F
Bozzetti
Luigi
L
Mariani
Salvatore
S
Lo Vullo
Maria Luisa
ML
Amerio
Roberto
R
Biffi
Giovanni
G
Caccialanza
Giorgio
G
Capuano
Giovanni
G
Capuano
Isabel
I
Correja
Luca
L
Cozzaglio
Angelo
A
Di Leo
Leonardo
L
Di Cosmo
Concetta
C
Finocchiaro
Cecilia
C
Gavazzi
Antonello
A
Giannoni
Patrizia
P
Magnanini
Giovanni
G
Mantovani
Manuela
M
Pellegrini
Lidia
L
Rovera
Giancarlo
G
Sandri
Marco
M
Tinivella
Enrico
E
Vigevani
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index