Prevalence of malnutrition and distress in cancer patients and the relationship between them using questionnaire

Introduction: Cancer is associated with negative feelings like anxiety and depression. But only few studies have focused on the relationship between them. Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of malnutrition and distress in cancer patients and to examine the relationship between them Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in West China Hospital, Sichuan province, China. We used questionnaire to investigate the prevalence of malnutrition and distress and examine the relationship between them, which consisted of nutritional status measured by patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) and nutritional risk screening 2002 (NRS 2002) and level of psychological distress measured by distress thermometer (DT). We also focused on the factors associated with distress. Results: The study was comprised of 466 individuals, including 209 women and 257 men (50.6±11.9 years old; ranging from 13 to 81). We found that psychological distress in cancer patients was common, with 184 patients (39.5%) suffered distress (3.7±2.7, 0-10). The mean score of PG-SGA was 3.37 (0-6), and of NRS2002 was 1.91 (0-11). Higher scores of nutrition confirmed by PGSGA (r=0.148, p<0.001) and NRS2002 (r=0.142, p<0.001) were significantly correlated with higher levels of psychological stress. The factors associated with distress in cancer patients were old age (p<0.01) and pain (p<0.01). Age (p<0.05), gender (p<0.01), pain (p<0.01), and occupation (p<0.05) might affect their nutritional status. Conclusions: Higher scores of nutrition confirmed by PG-SGA (r=0.148, p<0.001) and NRS2002 (r=0.142, p<0.001) were significantly correlated with higher levels of psychological stress. Further researches are still in demand

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