The impact of nutrition status on the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer treated in a multidisciplinary palliative care unit: A longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND

Nutrition impairment negatively affects quality of life (QoL).

METHODS

A longitudinal cohort study was carried out with patients with advanced cancer evaluated in the palliative care unit of a reference center for cancer in Brazil. Nutrition risk (NR) was evaluated using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment Short Form score (≥9 points) (PG-SGA SF), and QoL was assessed using the Quality-of-Life Questionnaire Core 15. Data were collected at baseline (T0) and during follow-up periods up to 40 days (T1). The association between the PG-SGA SF score and QoL changes over time was analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEEs), adjusted for covariates.

RESULTS

A total of 160 patients were included. The prevalence of NR at baseline (T0) was 55.6%, decreasing significantly to 36.3% at follow-up (T1) (P < 0.001). Most QoL symptom domain scores worsened over time. Patients with NR experienced significantly greater declines in mean scores compared with those without NR (P < 0.001 for all). In the multivariate GEE model, NR was a significant negative predictor for physical function (β: -0.227, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: -0.322 to -0.133), emotional function (β: -0.181, 95% CI: -0.267 to -0.096), pain (β: 0.185, 95% CI: 0.073 to 0.296), and global health (β: -0.100, 95% CI: -0.173 to -0.026).

CONCLUSION

NR prevalence significantly decreased during follow-up. However, NR had a persistent negative impact on multiple QoL domains, including physical and emotional function, pain, and global health. These findings underscore the critical role of nutrition status in maintaining QoL in palliative care patients receiving nutrition support therapy.