Quality of life and its relation with nutritional status in patients with incurable cancer in palliative care
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Quality of life and its relation with nutritional status in patients with incurable cancer in palliative care Livia Costa de Oliveira 1 & Gabriela Travassos Abreu 2 & Larissa Calixto Lima 1 & Mariah Azevedo Aredes 3 & Emanuelly Varea Maria Wiegert 1 Received: 5 September 2019 / Accepted: 2 February 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Background Nutritional impairment is common in cancer patients and adversely affects quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between nutritional status and QoL in incurable cancer patients in palliative care. Methods A prospective cohort with incurable cancer patients referred to the specialized Palliative Care Unit of the National Cancer Institute in Brazil was conducted. The nutritional risk (NR) was assessed using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment short form (PG-SGA SF), and cancer cachexia (CC) was defined according to the international consensus. QoL was evaluated using the Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 15 Palliative (QLQ-C15-PAL). Multivariate linear regressions analyses were performed to assess the relationship between the nutritional status and QoL scores. Results A total of 1039 consecutive patients were included. A high prevalence of NR (85.4%) and CC (78.7%) were observed. The patients with worse nutritional status presented significantly poorer physical, emotional, symptoms domains scales, and overall QoL. CC were significantly associated with QoL scores for dyspnea (p = 0.013), insomnia (p = 0.046), and appetite loss (p = 0.015), while NR were associated with all the QoL domains scales covered in QLQ-C15-PAL. Conclusion Our findings support that impaired nutritional status was associated with poor QoL in incurable cancer patients. NR assessed by PG-SGA SF better reflects physical, emotional, symptom burden, and overall QoL scores. Thus, this tool may contribute in identifying patients at risk of deterioration QoL. Keywords Nutritional status . Cachexia . Malnutrition . Incurable cancer . Quality of life . Palliative care
Introduction Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and in developing countries, the majority of tumors are diagnosed at an incurable stage [1]. Patients with incurable disease often experience multiple symptoms and functional deficits. The most important goals in palliative care are symptom control and the improvement or maintenance of the quality of life
* Livia Costa de Oliveira [email protected] 1
Nutritionist, Palliative Care Unit, José Alencar Gomes da Silva National Cancer Institute, Rua Visconde de Santa Isabel, 274, Vila Isabel, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2
Institutional Development Grant, José Alencar Gomes da Silva National Cancer Institute, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
3
Student in Continuing Education Course I, José Alencar Gomes da Silva National Cancer Institute, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
(QoL) of patients as well as their caregivers, who will also be distressed by the incurable nature of
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