Assessment of Nutritional Status in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer Before Radiotherapy: A Single-center, Cross-sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: It is important to assess nutritional status to determine the presence of malnutrition because poor nutritional status will reduce the efficacy and increase the side effects of radiotherapy. The aim of this research was to assess nutritional status by comparing several parameters, namely anthropometry, biochemistry, physical condition, and inflammatory parameters, with Patient Generated-Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) as the gold standard.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 78 subjects was conducted at the General Hospital Dr. Sardjito Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2022. The Malnutrition Screening Tool, Simple Nutrition Screening Tool, PG-SGA, and objective parameter data were used in the nutritional assessment. The objective parameters were determined by analyzing anthropometric data [body weight, mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), and body fat], biochemical data (albumin and a complete blood profile), physical data (hand grip strength), and food intake data using the 1×24-hour recall method. The data were analyzed using One-Way ANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallis test.

RESULTS: Malnutrition was found in 33.3% of pre-radiotherapy head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. Patients with good nutritional status did not experience weight loss, decreased appetite, gastrointestinal symptoms, decreased functional capacity, or fat and/or muscle deficit (p<0.05). The findings showed a significant relationship between PG-SGA and nutritional status based on body weight, weight loss, MUACs, handgrip strength, visceral fat, resting metabolic rate (RMR), and hemoglobin (p<0.05). A better nutritional status was associated with higher parameter values.

CONCLUSIONS: The method for nutritional status assessment in HNC patients undergoing radiotherapy can be performed by measuring body weight, weight loss, upper arm circumference, visceral fat, hemoglobin, and RMR in addition to PG-SGA as the gold standard.