Background: Compromised nutritional status is common among cancer patients and is associated with hindered treatment response, greater need for hospitalization, lower quality of life, and less chance of survival.
Aims: To identify the nutritional status of women with gynecological cancer in palliative care using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and the association of serum albumin to the nutritional status rating using PG-SGA as determinants of lenght of hospital stay and mortality.
Methods: 49 women with gynecological tumors, in palliative care, and hospitalized during the month of November 2012 at the foremost centers for the prevention and treatment of cancer in Rio de Janeiro were assessed during the first 24 hours of hospitalization. Data were collected on PG-SGA, albumin, and mortality. Statistical significance was reported at the conventional p<0.05 level.
0>Results: 10,2% of the patients were classified as being well nourished (PG-SGA A), 52,9% as at nutritional risk or moderately malnourished (PG-SGA B), and 30,6% as being severely malnourished (PG-SGA C). Most of the women (83,7%) reported eating less than they normally would and 77,6% reported losing weight. The most prevalent gastrointestinal symptom were xerostomia (55,1%) and early satiety (44,9%). 91.8% had limitations in functional capacity, and 44.9% reported spending most of their time sitting or lying down. The median serum albumin was significantly higher (p<0,001) in the group of well-nourished patients (PG-SGA A), when compared to malnourished (PG-SGA B and C). There was a positive association between serum albumin and survival (r=0,558; p=0,001), and a negative correlation between serum albumin and PG-SGA score (r=-370; p=0,012). The median of survival was 57 days, being higher in well nourished patients (137 days).
0>Conclusion: PG-SGA is a useful and viable method of nutritional assessment for patients with gynecological tumors in palliative care, related to serum albumin levels and mortality.