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<sec><h3>Introduction</h3><p>Malnutrition is strongly associated with negative outcomes in aged populations with cancer. Several studies have compared the outcomes of nutritional-screening tools, but knowledge specifically covering older adult patients with cancer remains limited. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of two tools, the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) <italic>versus</italic> the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) for this population.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Method</h3><p>Cross-sectional study with 432 participants who consented to participate and were enrolled at admission to medical and surgical wards of a tertiary referral hospital. The participants’ nutritional statuses were simultaneously assessed using the PG-SGA and the MNA, and the outcomes compared using the kappa statistical test. The Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC) was employed to calculate the MNA sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and was compared with PG-SGA.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Results</h3><p>Prevalence of good nourishment was observed in 62.5% and 61.1% of the participants, as detected by PG-SGA and MNA, respectively. Both tools concurred moderately (kappa = 0.453). Importantly, there were significant differences in the diagnosis of malnutrition (7.6% vs. 4.6%, p = 0.000). The MNA showed sensitivity of 72.2% and specificity of 75.9% in detecting good nourishment for the population investigated.</p></sec>
<sec><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>The MNA may not present greater sensitivity, possibly due to a lack of coverage of gastrointestinal symptoms. It is a quick and efficient tool for nutritional assessment of older adult patients with cancer, but as it is more specific than sensitive, caution is recommended when identifying borderline or early malnourished individuals of this population.</p></sec>
</abstract>

IntroductionMalnutrition is strongly associated with negative outcomes in aged populations with cancer. Several studies have compared the outcomes of nutritional-screening tools, but knowledge specifically covering older adult patients with cancer remains limited. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of two tools, the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) versus the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) for this population.
MethodCross-sectional study with 432 participants who consented to participate and were enrolled at admission to medical and surgical wards of a tertiary referral hospital. The participants’ nutritional statuses were simultaneously assessed using the PG-SGA and the MNA, and the outcomes compared using the kappa statistical test. The Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC) was employed to calculate the MNA sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and was compared with PG-SGA.
ResultsPrevalence of good nourishment was observed in 62.5% and 61.1% of the participants, as detected by PG-SGA and MNA, respectively. Both tools concurred moderately (kappa = 0.453). Importantly, there were significant differences in the diagnosis of malnutrition (7.6% vs. 4.6%, p = 0.000). The MNA showed sensitivity of 72.2% and specificity of 75.9% in detecting good nourishment for the population investigated.
ConclusionThe MNA may not present greater sensitivity, possibly due to a lack of coverage of gastrointestinal symptoms. It is a quick and efficient tool for nutritional assessment of older adult patients with cancer, but as it is more specific than sensitive, caution is recommended when identifying borderline or early malnourished individuals of this population.

Two Distinct Nutritional Assessment Tools Have Dissimilar Outcomes in a Sample of Older Adult Patients With Cancer

Nutritionist: Nucleo de Oncologia da Bahia (NOB)

Nutritionist at the Municipal Health Department of Salvador

Nutritionist: Department of Nutrition, Hospital Aristides Maltez

Nutritionist, Food, Nutrition and Health Post-Graduation Program

Biomedical Scientist and Lecturer, College of Health, Life and Environmental Sciences

Nutritionist and Lecturer in Science Nutrition Department and Food, Nutrition and Health Graduate Program

Forum of Clinical Oncology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

IntroductionMalnutrition is strongly associated with negative outcomes in aged populations with cancer. Several studies have compared the outcomes of...

Two Distinct Nutritional Assessment Tools Have Dissimilar Outcomes in a Sample of Older Adult Patients With Cancer

Article Category: Research Article

Data publikacji: 30 paź 2022

Zakres stron: 30 - 37

Otrzymano: 17 maj 2022

Przyjęty: 23 cze 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fco-2021-0016

Słowa kluczowe
Nutritional assessment, cancer, older adults, patient-generated subjective global assessment, mini-nutritional assessment

© 2022 Tatiane Correia Rios et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Two Distinct Nutritional Assessment Tools Have Dissimilar Outcomes in a Sample of Older Adult Patients With Cancer

Article Category: Research Article

Data publikacji: 30 paź 2022

Zakres stron: 30 - 37

Otrzymano: 17 maj 2022

Przyjęty: 23 cze 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fco-2021-0016

Słowa kluczoweNutritional assessment, cancer, older adults, patient-generated subjective global assessment, mini-nutritional assessment

© 2022 Tatiane Correia Rios et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Słowa kluczowe
Nutritional assessment, cancer, older adults, patient-generated subjective global assessment, mini-nutritional assessment