Nutrition assessment and its relationship with performance and Glasgow prognostic scores in Vietnamese patients with esophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

To determine the nutritional status of patients with esophageal cancer, and to investigate its relationship with performance status and prognosis.

METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN

This clinical, cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2014 to February 2015 at National Cancer Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam. Stage III/IV esophageal cancer patients were assessed for their nutritional status (patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) and SGA scores, BMI, mid-arm circumference (MAC), energy and protein intakes, weight changes, Karnofsky and Eastern cooperative oncology group performance scores (KPS/ECOG), and Glasgow prognostic score (GPS).

RESULTS

Sixty-four male patients were enrolled. The mean ± standard deviation of PG-SGA score was 9.88±4.41. SGA revealed 44% as class B and 6.2% as class C. The BMI revealed 43.8% of patients were underweight. MAC measurement revealed 29.7% of undernourished patients. Patients with an energy intake <25 kcal/kg/d comprised 54.7%, and 48.4% with <1 g/kg/day of protein. Totally, 68.8%, 84.4% and 92.2% patients exhibited weight loss past 2-weeks, one-month and six-months, respectively. The PG-SGA and SGA strongly correlated with the KPS (r=-0.717 and 0.632, both p<0.001) and ECOG (r=0.672 and 0.626, both p<0.001), but were weakly correlated with the GPS (r=0.332 and 0.278, p<0.01 and 0.05). The KPS, ECOG, BMI, MAC, energy and protein intakes, and weight change were not correlated with the GPS.

CONCLUSIONS

Malnutrition, weight change, and insufficient intake were noteworthy in esophageal cancer patients. The PG-SGA and SGA were strongly correlated with the performance status, but weakly correlated with prognostic indices.