Nutritional Screening in a University Hospital: Comparison between Oncologic and Non-Oncologic Patients

Selma F. C. Cunha^1*, Lidiane S. Tanaka², Roberta G. Salomão², Danielle M. Macedo², Thatiane D. Santos², Fernanda M. Peria³

¹Division of Clinical Nutrition, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.
²Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Team of Clinical Hospital, School of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.
³Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/fns.2015.61009                

Abstract

Background & Aims: We compared the screening nutritional data of patients with malignant and non-malignant disease, and classified their nutritional risk according to the primary tumor’s site. Methods: Subjective Global Assessment was applied to 3008 patients within 48 h of admission to a public university. Subjects were divided into Oncologic Group (n = 576) or Non-Oncologic Group (n = 2432) according to the presence of neoplasms or other diseases respectively. These data were compared by the t-student test and classic chi-square test, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Results: The Oncologic Group presented a higher prevalence of weight loss (60.3% vs. 49.3%), quantitative (40.7% vs. 28.5%) and qualitative (16.4% vs. 7.6%) alterations in the food intake pattern, gastrointestinal symptoms and muscle waste (23.2% vs. 13.2%) as compared to the Non-Oncologic Group. Also, there was a higher prevalence of nutritional disturbances in the Oncologic Group, with 49.5% of the subjects moderately (or suspected to be malnourished) and 12.7% severely mal-nourished. Severe malnourishment was mainly observed in patients with head and neck (25%), upper digestive tract (21.9%) and soft tissue and bones (17.9%) tumors. Conclusion: When compared to other hospitalized patients, patients with neoplastic disease were in higher nutritional risk.

Keywords

Nutritional Screening, Malnutrition, Subjective Global Assessment, Hospital Setting, Neoplasia

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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