Abstract
Objective
To investigate appetite impairment in older adults hospitalized with cancer and its association with nutritional status and cachexia.
Method
A cross-sectional study, conducted with older adults men and women diagnosed with malignant neoplasia from July 2017 to March 2019 at a university hospital. The final sample consisted of 90 patients. Appetite was evaluated using the Cancer Appetite and Symptom Questionnaire (CASQ) and nutritional status was determined using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). Presence of cachexia was assessed by weight loss >5% in the last 6 months; or body mass index (BMI) <20 kg/m22 Noone AM, Howlader N, Krapcho M, Miller D, Brest A, Yu M, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review 1975-2015 [Internet]. Betesha; INC; 2018 [acesso em 07 jul. 2020. Disponível em: https://seer.cancer.gov/archive/csr/1975_2015/
https://seer.cancer.gov/archive/csr/1975...
and weight loss >2%; or appendicular skeletal muscle index consistent with sarcopenia and weight loss >2%.
Results
There was a predominance of male (56.7%) self-declared non-white individuals (56.7%), with tumors in the gastrointestinal tract (75.6%) and median age of 67.0 years. 75.6% of the individuals have impaired appetite, 57.8% suspected malnutrition or malnutrition of some degree, 54.4% cachexia and 92.2% needed nutritional intervention. There was significant association between CASQ categories with nutritional status (p= 0.001) and presence of cachexia (p=0.050). After logistic regression analysis, malnutrition remained associated with impaired appetite assessed by CASQ score [OR: 4.68 (CI 95%: 1.50-14.56), p=0.008]
Conclusion
The presence of malnutrition increased the chances of appetite impairment, which reinforces the need for early nutritional screening and intervention, in order to reduce and/or avoid nutritional problems.
Keywords
Health of the Elderly; Cancer; Nutritional Status; Cachexia; Appetite