Nutrition and functional status among Palestinian cancer patients receiving chemotherapy

This study aims to determine the prevalence of malnutrition among cancer patients and to assess the nutritional and functional status of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy at the Oncology unit of Beit Jala Governmental Hospital in Palestine.

During the data collection period, all patients who received chemotherapy at the hospital's chemotherapy unit were included in this cross-sectional analysis. Anthropometric measurements and biochemical data from the patients' files were used to determine nutritional status. The Nutrition Risk Screening (NRS) 2002 was used to assess the risk of malnutrition. The Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy (FAACT) was used to determine functional status. A three-day diet recall was used to determine dietary intake.

A total of 153 patients were included in the final analysis. The results revealed that 23.8% of the patients were at risk of malnutrition. Those who were not at risk of malnutrition had a marginally improved functional position. Furthermore, patients aged ≥65 years, males, smokers or former smokers, and those with four or more comorbidities had a significantly higher prevalence of malnutrition. In the logistic model, age >60 years was the only indicator of malnutrition.

Malnutrition has a considerable prevalence in the study sample. However, the functional status of patients who were not at risk of malnutrition was marginally better than that of those with malnutrition risk.