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. 2023 May 3:11:20503121231171491.
doi: 10.1177/20503121231171491. eCollection 2023.

Malnutrition in hospitalized cancer patients: A single-center, cross-sectional study in Southern Vietnam

Nguyen Van Tap  1 , Ho Tat Bang  2   3 , Duong Thi Huong  4 , Pham Cong Chi  5 , Le Thi Ngoc Anh  6
Affiliations

Malnutrition in hospitalized cancer patients: A single-center, cross-sectional study in Southern Vietnam

Nguyen Van Tap et al. SAGE Open Med. .

Abstract

Objectives: Malnutrition in cancer patients reduces response to chemotherapy, increases the hospitalization costs, hospital infections, and deaths. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, level of malnutrition, and its related factors in cancer patients at a local hospital in Southern Vietnam.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on all 118 cancer patients who were undergoing inpatient treatment at Long An General Hospital, Vietnam from May to September 2020. Data were collected from patients by face-to-face interviewing using a subjective global assessment (SGA) and from medical records. Malnutrition is divided into three groups: SGA-A (normal), SGA-B (mild/moderate/suspected malnutrition), SGA-C (severe malnutrition). Multivariable logistic regression is used to identify factors related to malnutrition with statistical significance p < 0.05.

Results: Out of 118 participants, 72 (61.0%) were males and 84 (71.2%) aged ⩾60 years. The prevalence of malnutrition in cancer patients was 84.7% (100/118), in which 33% (39/118) were severe (SGA-C) and 51.7% (61/118) were mild-moderate (SGA-B). Pancreatic and lung cancers are the most malnourished. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the factors related to malnutrition in cancer patients were gastrointestinal symptoms lasting 2 weeks (odds ratio: 6.10, 95% confidence interval: 1.12-33.35), patients with decreased motor function (odds ratio: 13.73, 95% confidence interval: 2.56-73.86), blood albumin <35 g/l (odds ratio: 6.42, 95% confidence interval: 1.54-26.82), and blood lymphocyte ⩽ 1700 cells/mm3 (odds ratio: 5.36, 95% confidence interval: 1.31-21.97).

Conclusions: There was a high proportion of malnutrition in cancer patients. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen nutrition counseling and intervention for these patients, especially those that have prolonged gastrointestinal symptoms, reduced motor function, and low blood albumin or low blood lymphocytes.

Keywords: Cancer; hospitalized malnutrition; nutrition assessment; patient; subjective global assessment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Types of cancer patients in the study (n = 118).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Classification of nutritional status according to SGA (n = 118). SGA: subjective global assessment.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Rate of malnutrition in each group of cancer patients (n = 118).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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