Nutrition Screening by MUST on the Oncological Patient in Radiotherapy

Abstract

Introduction: Radiotherapy contributes to the reduction of food intake and increased weight loss due to the appearance of gastrointestinal symptoms, which consequently leads to malnutrition. Objective: Identify nutritional risk through the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), in patients submitted to radiotherapy for the treatment of cancer. Method: Cross-sectional study with outpatients at the radiotherapy service of the Cancer Hospital of Pernambuco, during October 2014 until May 2015. Socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle (smoking, alcohol use and physical activity), anthropometric variables (habitual weight, current weight and body mass index), comorbidities (hypertension and diabetes), tumor type, time since diagnosis and duration of treatment were evaluated. Nutritional risk was assessed using the MUST, which classifies patients as being at low, medium or high nutritional risk. Results: 150 patients were studied with an average age of 47.3 years, with a predominance of women (72%) and similar proportions of adults and elderly individuals. The sample mainly comprised individuals from in-state regions and inactive/retired individuals who received one to three times the minimum salary. Nutritional risk was significantly higher among elderly individuals (62.9%), among whom high risk predominated (45.7%), whereas most adults had no risk (61.2%). The most frequent tumors were gynecological (59.4%) with weight gain (33.3%), followed by tumors of the head and neck region with a high degree of weight loss (p = 0.007). Conclusion: The use of MUST led to the detection of nutritional risk in 50% of the studied patients, with a predominance of elderly individuals, the majority of whom were at high risk. Tumors of the head and neck led to weight loss, whereas gynecological tumors led to weight gain. Out-patient nutritional screening is important for the early establishment of specialized nutritional counseling.