Introduction: Malnutrition in cancer patients affects the quality of life (QoL) of the patients and brings about adverse outcomes including morbidity and mortality. This study aims to determine the prevalence of malnutrition among cancer patients at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Putrajaya.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 97 respondents who were admitted to the NCI between August 2014 and January 2015. Information on socio-demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, anthropometric measurements, dietary intake and biochemical data were obtained. The Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) was used to identify malnutrition risk, while the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) determined patients’ nutritional status.
Results: Approximately 61.9% and 43.5% of the patients were malnourished upon admission based on the MST and SGA scores, respectively. Four most common types of cancer among the malnourished patients were nasopharyngeal (NPC), lung, breast and colorectal cancer. About 56.9% and 21.6% of the malnourished patients, according to MST, were at Stage 4 and Stage 3 cancer, respectively. Meanwhile 69.7% of the malnourished respondents, based on SGA, were at Stage 4 cancer. Mean energy intake was 1463±577 kcal and protein intake was 54±22 g proteins.
Conclusion: Prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalised cancer patients in the NCI was high, depending on age, body mass index (BMI), tumour location and cancer stage. Early identification of malnutrition status is required for proper nutritional intervention.
Study site: National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Putrajaya, Malaysia