Nutritional Screening: Development and Implementation of a Protocol in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer

Half of all patients with head and neck cancer are malnourished at the time of diagnosis. Although nutritional status can be predictive of patient-related outcomes, nutritional screening protocols have not been widely accepted as standard of care.

This article aims to develop and pilot a nutritional screening protocol in an outpatient head and neck clinic using the abridged version of the Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (abPG-SGA) so that at-risk patients are identified and can maintain or minimize weight loss and body mass index (BMI).

At initial and subsequent visits, study participants completed the abPG-SGA, documenting percentage of weight loss and BMI from baseline.

317 patients completed the abPG-SGA, with 119 scoring 6 or more, prompting a dietitian referral. The nutritional screening protocol accurately identified at-risk patients and resulted in less weight loss and BMI change.