Poor Pre-operative Nutritional Status Is a Risk Factor of Post-operative Infections in Patients With Gastrointestinal...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Surgical Nutrition
• Clinical Prognostics

Background:

• Post-operative infections are significant complications following gastric cancer (GC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery.
• Assessing pre-operative nutritional status is crucial for predicting patient outcomes.
• Nutritional Risk Score 2002 (NRS2002) and patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) are established nutritional assessment tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the prognostic value of NRS2002 and PG-SGA in predicting post-operative infections in GC and CRC patients undergoing curative surgery.
• To identify specific nutritional parameters associated with infection risk in these patient populations.

Main Methods:

• A prospective study involving 1,493 GC and 879 CRC patients from 18 Chinese hospitals.
• NRS2002 and PG-SGA assessments were conducted upon admission.
• Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between nutritional status and post-surgical infections.

Main Results:

• Prevalence of nutritional risk was 51.1% (NRS2002) in GC and 63.9% in CRC patients.
• Malnutrition prevalence was 38.9% (PG-SGA) in GC and 54.2% in CRC patients.
• Post-operative infections occurred in 4.4% of GC and 9.9% of CRC patients. High NRS2002 (≥5) significantly increased infection risk in GC patients. PG-SGA was a predictor of post-operative infections in CRC patients.

Conclusions:

• Pre-operative nutritional status significantly influences the occurrence of post-operative infections in GC and CRC.
• NRS2002 (≥5) is a risk factor for post-operative infections in GC patients.
• PG-SGA (B/C) is a predictor of post-operative infections in CRC patients.