A Poorer Nutritional Status Impacts Quality of Life in a Sample Population of Elderly Cancer Patients

Abstract

Rationale: Quality of Life (QoL) is impaired in cancer, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition. A diagnosis of cancer in elderly patients further exacerbate risks of negative health outcomes. Here we investigated associations between QoL and nutritional status in a sample population of mostly socially deprived elderly cancer patients.Method: 432 patients with diagnosed cancer were recruited for this cross-sectional study at point of admission to a tertiary referral charitable hospital for cancer treatment. Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) assessed nutritional status. Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy- General (FACT-G) quantified QoL. PG-SGA outcomes were compared against FACT-G scores employing Mann-Whitney test. Relationship between PG-SGA and QoL scores was assessed by Spearman correlation. Bivariate Linear Regression Model was employed to investigate the influence of sociodemographic, clinical and nutritional status upon QoL.Results: 37.5% of participants were malnourished or at risk. 39% were illiterate and 54.6% had a family income lower than minimum wage. Malnourished patients showed lower FACT-G scores (78.0 vs. 86.0; p=0.000). Poor nutritional diagnosis was inversely correlated with all QoL domains. Bivariate regression analysis showed that worsened PG-SGA scores (βo = -1.00; p = 0.000) contributed to FACT-G score deterioration; the male gender showed less pronounced effects in QoL, whereas literacy and family income did not show relationship.Conclusion: We found that poorer nutritional status was significantly associated with worsened physical, social, emotional and functional well-being domains of QoL in elderly cancer patients. Future policies aimed at this particularly vulnerable population may improve QoL and health outcomes.

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“…30 Some individuals still reported fatigue and difficulties in performing daily activities 6 months after hospital discharge and rehabilitation. 29,36 According to Rios and colleagues 48 and Rives-Lange, 49 malnutrition is a possible contributor to low QoL during long COVID. The relationship between QoL and nutritional status has been previously investigated in other conditions and is associated with impaired functional status and delayed recovery.…”

Relation of Malnutrition and Nosocomical Infections in Cancer Patients in Hospital: An Observational Study

“…Among hospitalized cancer patients, malnutrition tends to worsen during hospital stays [3,4]. It has been associated with a greater risk of complications [5], longer hospital stays [6], poorer tolerance and response to treatments [7], shorter survival [8,9], and a significant decline in health-related quality of life [6,10].…”

Implications of inappropriate prescription of oral nutritional supplements on the quality of life of cancer outpatients: a cross-sectional comparative study

“…Malnutrition possesses a negative impact on the quality of life of cancer patients [4,5]. It is demonstrated that malnutrition is an independent predictor of poor quality of life in cancer patients on several levels: physical, functional, emotional, and social [5,6]. For instance, malnutrition was correlated with poor physical functioning in oral or oropharyngeal cancer patients [7].…”