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Nutrition in acute and chronic diseases

Nutritional status assessed by Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment is associated with toxicity to chemoradiotherapy in women with cervical cancer: a prospective study

Abstract

Background

Patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA), a validated tool for nutritional assessment, has been associated with worse clinical outcomes in patients with cancer. However, studies assessing its relationship in chemoradiotherapy outcomes are scarce. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of malnutrition according to PG-SGA and its association with the incidence of toxicity to chemoradiotherapy treatment in women with cervical cancer.

Methods

In a single-centre prospective observational study, we enrolled 391 women with locally advanced cervical cancer. Patients were assessed on the day of their first chemotherapy infusion, when nutritional status was evaluated by the PG-SGA form and anthropometric measurements. Sociodemographic and clinical data were also collected. Toxicity to chemoradiotherapy was assessed weekly and toxicity-induced modification of treatment (TIMT) was defined as any serious adverse event that resulted in treatment delay, interruption, or dose reduction. Multivariate mixed-effects Poisson and Logistic regression models were performed to identify the factors contributing to the outcome number of adverse events ≥ grade 3 and TIMT, respectively.

Results

Malnutrition was found in 47.6% of the population. Roughly 1/3 had TIMT and 54.2% experienced at least one symptom ≥grade 3. In the adjusted models, PG-SGA B and C, as well as the score ≥9 were independent predictors of the number of toxicity events ≥grade 3 and higher incidence of TIMT.

Conclusions

PG-SGA may represent an important assessment tool to predict toxicity outcomes in women with cervical cancer, besides being considered a simple, fast, and low-cost tool, which allows early nutritional care.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Taiara Poltronieri and Fernanda Maciel for their valuable support in data collection. This research was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Jovem Cientista do Nosso Estado-2020 grant).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

All authors developed the idea for this study and approved the final version of the manuscript. APM and MAA participated with the data acquisition, analysis and interpretation; wrote the article and critically reviewed it. JOM participated with the data acquisition and interpretation; wrote the article and critically reviewed it. GVC participated with substantial contributions to conception and design; participated with the data analysis and interpretation; wrote the article and critically reviewed it with important intellectual contribution.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriela Villaça Chaves.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1. Characteristics of the nutritional status according to PG-SGA domains (n=391).

41430_2022_1180_MOESM2_ESM.docx

Supplementary Table 2 Frequency of adverse events reported during cisplatin infusions in women with cervix cancer (n= 391).

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Mota, A.P., Aredes, M.A., De Oliveira Miguel, J. et al. Nutritional status assessed by Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment is associated with toxicity to chemoradiotherapy in women with cervical cancer: a prospective study. Eur J Clin Nutr 76, 1740–1747 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-022-01180-9

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