Nutrient intake and nutritional status of newly diagnosed patients with cancer from the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

BackgroundCancer therapy in Malaysia primarily focuses on the clinical management of patients with cancer and malnutrition continues to be one of the major causes of death in these patients. There is a dearth of information on the nutrient intake and status of newly diagnosed patients with cancer prior to the initiation of treatment. The present study aims to assess the nutrient intake and status of newly diagnosed patients with cancer from the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using a convenient sample of newly diagnosed adult patients with cancer (n = 70) attending the Oncology clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Information on socio-demographic characteristics, clinical status, anthropometry, dietary intake and biochemical data including blood samples was obtained.ResultsThe mean (SD) age, triceps skin fold (TSF), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) and body mass index (BMI) of participants was 21.1(3.9) years, 17.6(7.9) mm, 24.1(5.5) cm, and 21.1(3.9) Kg/m2, respectively; 39% participants had BMI <18.5 Kg/m2. One-third of newly diagnosed patients with cancer were undernourished (i.e. women: MUAC <220 mm; men: <230 mm). The proportion (%) of participants with low haemoglobin (<120 g/L) and serum albumin (<38 g/dL) were 62% and 26%, respectively. The older women had significantly lower macro and micro nutrient intakes compared to men in the same age group (P <0.05).ConclusionsAt the time of diagnosis, greater than one-third of patients with cancer from the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia were underweight and undernourished. The majority of patients with cancer had poor micronutrient intakes; the older women had a poor macro and micronutrient intakes. Before the initiation of rigorous clinical management of patients with cancer, screening for nutritional status, subsequent nutrition counseling, and interventions are essential to improve their nutritional status; consequently, response to cancer therapy, survival and quality of life.

Detailed Dietary Assessment in Patients with Inoperable Tumors: Potential Deficits for Nutrition Care Plans

“…Previous studies have assessed the dietary intake of oncological patients, mainly focusing on energy and macronutrients intake. Specifically, dietary energy intakes of patients with advanced malignant disease have been previously reported (Bauer et al, 2005a;Bauer and Capra, 2005b;Bosaeus et al, 2001;DeWys et al, 1981;Fearon et al, 2003;Menon et al, 2014;Vidal-Casariego et al, 2015) with average energy intakes ranging between 22 and 24 kcal/kg/day, while higher intakes (25!35 kcal/kg BW) seem to be required for weight maintenance (Baracos, 2006). Regarding protein intakes, previous studies reported a protein intake of <1.5 g/kg/day (Hutton et al, 2006;Vidal-Casariego et al, 2015).…”

“…According to the present results, a substantial proportion of patients exhibited suboptimal micronutrient intakes based on the EARs for healthy individuals, even when the analysis was restricted to well-nourished and overweight/obese patients. Although there are limited studies assessing micronutrient intake in oncological patients, their findings also reveal a high prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies (Gomez Valiente da Silva et al, 2014;Menon et al, 2014). Studies comparing micronutrient status between cancer patients and healthy individuals revealed that cancer patients have lower levels of vitamins A, B, C, D, and E, as well as selenium and zinc (Strohle et al, 2010;Whiteside et al, 2004).…”

“…Available data regarding the dietary consumption of the aforementioned nutrients of cancer patients are relatively limited. Most studies focused on the assessment of macronutrient dietary intake in various primaries at any time during the cancer trajectory (Hutton et al, 2006;Pistoia et al, 2012), while there are very few studies evaluating the micronutrient intake (Gomez Valiente da Silva et al, 2014;Menon et al, 2014), especially at the time of diagnosis (Menon et al, 2014). To the best of our knowledge, no studies so far assessed the dietary intake of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, namely EPA and DHA.…”

Current Oncology Nutrition Care Practice in Southeast Asia: A Scoping Review

“…Characteristics of the 18 studies are summarized in Table 2 [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. Studies were published between 2012-2022 from five of 11 countries (45%) listed in Southeast Asia: Malaysia (n = 10, 56%) [32,[37][38][39][40][41]44,[47][48][49], Vietnam (n = 4, 22%) [33,35,36,42], Philippines (n = 2, 11%) [45,46], Singapore [34] and Thailand [43] (both n = 1, 6%). Half of the studies [32,[38][39][40]42,[45][46][47][48] were published in 2020 or later, while the remaining studies were published from 2012-2019 [33][34][35]…”

“…Studies were published between 2012-2022 from five of 11 countries (45%) listed in Southeast Asia: Malaysia (n = 10, 56%) [32,[37][38][39][40][41]44,[47][48][49], Vietnam (n = 4, 22%) [33,35,36,42], Philippines (n = 2, 11%) [45,46], Singapore [34] and Thailand [43] (both n = 1, 6%). Half of the studies [32,[38][39][40]42,[45][46][47][48] were published in 2020 or later, while the remaining studies were published from 2012-2019 [33][34][35][36][37]41,43,44,49]. Nine studies used observational study design, with most (n = 7) undertaken as a prospective observational study [35,36,38,41,43,44,46], retrospective [33] or prospective cohort [40].…”