Nutritional assessment and quality of life in patients with non-small cell lung cancer undergoing immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND

Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) often experience severe eating disorders and other problems because of rapid disease progression and various therapies, which significantly affect their quality of life (QoL).

AIMS: This study aimed to assess the nutritional status and QoL of patients with NSCLC at the start of immunotherapy and 3 months later.

METHODS

This study used a prospective, observational, consecutive sampling approach and was carried out between July 2018 and August 2019. The convenience sample comprised 60 patients treated in the oncology ward and the day care department of a public hospital in Greece. Their nutritional status was assessed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment questionnaire and their QoL using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 questionnaire and its QLQ-LC13 module. They were evaluated at the start of immunotherapy (phase I) and 3 months later (phase II).

FINDINGS: Of the initial 60 patients, 25% had died and 23.3% declined to participate by phase II. Of the 31 patients (51.7%) who completed the study, 64.5% had been assessed as malnourished at phase I; at phase II, this had decreased to 32.3%, so nutritional status appeared to have significantly improved. There were also significant improvements between phases I and II in global health status/QoL, as well as in the physical, roles, emotional and social dimensions. Additionally, all nine symptoms of QLQ-C30 significantly decreased, while the QLQ-LC13 showed significant improvements in dyspnoea, alopecia and pain in parts of the body other than the chest, arm or shoulder.

CONCLUSION

Metastatic NSCLC patients' QoL and nutritional status significantly improved after 3 months' immunotherapy.