TY  - JOUR
A1  - Jendretzki, Julia
A1  - Henniger, Dorothea
A1  - Schiffmann, Lisa
A1  - Wolz, Constanze
A1  - Kollikowski, Anne
A1  - Meining, Alexander
A1  - Einsele, Hermann
A1  - Winkler, Marcela
A1  - Löffler, Claudia
T1  - Every fifth patient suffered a high nutritional risk — Results of a prospective patient survey in an oncological outpatient center
JF  - Frontiers in Nutrition
N2  - Introduction
Malnutrition in cancer patients often remains undetected and underestimated in clinical practice despite studies revealing prevalences from 20 to 70%. Therefore, this study aimed to identify patient groups exposed to an increased nutritional risk in a university oncological outpatient center.


Methods
Between May 2017 and January 2018 we screened oncological patients there using the malnutrition universal screening tool (MUST). Qualitative data were collected by a questionnaire to learn about patients’ individual information needs and changes in patients’ diets and stressful personal nutrition restrictions.


Results
We included 311 patients with various cancers. 20.3% (n = 63) were found to be at high risk of malnutrition, 16.4% (n = 51) at moderate risk despite a mean body mass index (BMI) of 26.5 ± 4.7 kg/m2. The average age was 62.7 (± 11.8) with equal gender distribution (52% women, n = 162). In 94.8% (n = 295) unintended weight loss led to MUST scoring. Patients with gastrointestinal tumors (25%, n = 78) and patients >65 years (22%, n = 68) were at higher risk. Furthermore, there was a significant association between surgery or chemotherapy within six months before survey and a MUST score ≥2 (OR = 3.6). Taste changes, dysphagia, and appetite loss were also particular risk factors (OR = 2.3–3.2). Young, female and normal-weight patients showed most interest in nutrition in cancer. However, only 38% (n = 118) had a nutritional counseling.


Conclusion
This study confirms that using the MUST score is a valid screening procedure to identify outpatients at risk of developing malnutrition. Here one in five was at high risk, but only 1% would have been detected by BMI alone. Therefore, an ongoing screening procedure with meaningful parameters should be urgently implemented into the clinical routine of cancer outpatients as recommended in international guidelines.
KW  - nutritional risk screening
KW  - malnutrition
KW  - nutritional counseling
KW  - oncology outpatients
KW  - MUST-Score
KW  - nutritional medical needs
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-311284
SN  - 2296-861X
VL  - 9
ER  -