Effect of Medical Treatment Methods on Nutritional Status of Oncology Patients

Introduction: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of treatment methods on the nutritional status of oncology patients.
Methods: The study was carried out on 50 (26 men and 24 women) newly diagnosed oncology patients with a mean age of 58±13.50 years. Anthropometric measurements and nutritional status of the patients were evaluated before and after treatments.
Results: The frequent cancer tape in women and men were breast (79.2%) and lung (23.1%) cancer, respectively. The frequency of metastases in patients was 48%, and 32% were Stage IV. Chemotherapy was applied to 24% of patients, chemotherapy and radiotherapy were applied to 12% of patients, chemotherapy with surgery was applied to 42% of patients, and chemotherapy and radiotherapy with surgery were applied to 22% of patients. The mean body mass index of patients before and after treatment was determined as 27.11±4.86 kg/m2 and 26.61±4.91 kg/m2, respectively. The majority of patients had a patient-generated subjective global assessment score of 4–8 (moderately malnourished) before (91.7%) and after (83.3%) treatment. While the mean energy intake of female patients was 1127±326.52 kcal before cancer treatment, it was determined as 1104±293.30 kcal after treatment. The energy intake of male patients was 1343±569.3 kcal before cancer treatment and 1166±495.9 kcal after treatment (p<0.05).
Discussion and Conclusion: Nutrition support at every stage of the treatment is very important among patients with cancer. Considering the treatment methods, the appropriate nutrition protocol should be applied in the fastest and most effective way according to the condition of each patient.

Keywords: Cancer; Malnutrition; Nutrition; Treatment; PG-SGA