Association of transthyretin and nutritional status in patients with cancer

Abstract

Background: The malnutrition is generally seen in the hospital environment and it is a serious potentially condition in cancer patients. Measurement of serum proteins can be a useful indicator in the evaluation of nutritional status. Objective: To evaluate the association of transthyretin with nutritional status in cancer patients. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, conducted with patients with a cancer confirmed diagnosis. Nutritional status was defined by the Subjective Global Assessment, anthropometric measurements, serum albumin and transthyretin. Results: Seventy patients were evaluated, the median age was 58.51±14.85years, 51.4%(n=36) were elderly and female. Cancer of the lower gastrointestinal tract was the most prevalent, affecting 42.9%(n=30) patients. Subjective Global Assessment, transthyretin and serum albumin showed that 71.56%(n= 50), 50.0%(n= 35) and 32.9%(n=23) patients were malnourished, respectively. There were no differences between them. Significant correlations were found between transthyretin, arm circumference (p=0.025), arm muscle circumference (p=0.008) and corrected arm muscle area (p=0.001). Transthyretin showed sensitivity of 58.0%, specificity of 70.0%, positive predictive value of 83.0%, and negative predictive value of 61.0%. Discussion: The findings showed the association of transthyretin with the anthropometric variables used to evaluate nutritional status, especially those that evaluate the reduction of energy and protein reserves. Conclusion: Transthyretin was moderately associated with anthropometric variables. Given the limitations, transthyretin may be a complementary tool in nutritional evaluation, because it is feasible, easy to interpret and undergoes changes in a short period.