Effect of oral nutritional supplementation on the post-discharge nutritional status and quality of life of gastrointestinal cancer patients after surgery: a multi-center study

Abstract

Background and objectives: To evaluate the effect of oral nutritional supplementation (ONS) on the postdischarge nutritional status and quality of life (QoL) of gastrointestinal cancer patients after surgery.

Methods and study design: A multi-center study was conducted on gastrointestinal cancer patients who received surgical treatment from 2013-2015. All patients were screened using the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) to assess nutritional risk. Patients with nutritional risk were randomized into two groups: patients in the study group (n=55) were given dietary guidance and ONS, control group (n=59) received only dietary guidance. Anthropometric measurements, nutrition-related laboratory tests, and gastrointestinal function scores were also collected and analyzed using Student's t test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). In addition, the EQ-5D was used to evaluate patients' QoL.

Results: Compared with baseline measurements, the body weight of patients in the study group increased by 1.35±0.53 kg and 1.35±0.73 kg at 60 and 90 days, which were significantly higher than those in the control group (-1.01±0.54 kg, and -1.60±0.81 kg at 60 and 90 days). The results from ANOVA showed that only weight and BMI differed significantly between the study and control groups and also between different measurement times (p<0.01). No differences were found for the other indicators or QoL between the study groups.

Conclusions: ONS may improve the weight and BMI of surgically treated gastrointestinal cancer patients postdischarge. However, these effects had little impact on patients' QoL.