Abstract

SOTELO GONZALEZ, Silvia et al. Anthropometry parameters in evaluating malnutrition in oncological patients: utility of body mass index and percentage of weight loss. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2013, vol.28, n.3, pp.965-968. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.3305/nh.2013.28.3.6369.

Objective: To compare the BMI and the percentage of weight loss as markers for malnutrition in hospitalized cancer patients considering the Patient-Generated Global Subjective Assessment (PG-GSA) as the gold standard. Method: Cross-sectional descriptive study in patients admitted to the Medical Oncology Department of the Hospital Xeral de Vigo, from May to September of 2011. Results: 28 patients (15 males). Mean age 63.46 years ± 11.05. Mean BMI 23.75 kg/m² ± 3.62. Mean percentage of weight loss 8.53% ± 6.20. In group A (well nourished) the percentage of weight loss was 1.07 ± 1.85, in group B (moderately malnourished) 7.90 ± 1.73, and in group C (severely malnourished) 10.91 ± 6.91 (p = 0.034). The BMI showed no statistically significant differences. Conclusions: The BMI is not a proper parameter to detect malnutrition, by contrast with the percentage of weight loss that did show a direct association with the degree of hyponutrition.

Keywords : Malnutrition; Cancer; Nutritional assessment; Nutritional status.

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