Prevalence of Malnutrition in Surgery

Overview

Nutritional disorders are highly prevalent in gastrointestinal cancer patients undergoing surgery and have shown to contribute significantly in short, mid and long-term clinical outcome. Although increasing evidence and expert suggestions there is still inadequate awareness about the clinical relevance of nutritional and metabolic alterations in surgical oncologic patients.

Nutritional disorders are highly prevalent in cancer patients and have shown to contribute significantly in short-, mid- and long-term clinical outcome. The prevalence of malnutrition is reported between 25% and over 70% based on nutritional assessments. Nutritional disorders represent an important risk factor for the occurence of postoperative complications. Main obstacles to improving nutritional care include lack of awareness for the problem among the general public and lack of awareness among decision makers and even care providers. Considering the high prevalence of malnutrition and its repercussions in patient morbidity-mortality and healthcare cost, nutritional screening measures must be included in an integrated nutritional care plan for patients before surgery and while in the hospital. The PRoMiS study was conceived to quantify nutritional disorders among gastrointestinal cancer patients undergoing surgery in Italy. The data obtained will contribute to increase the awareness of nutritional disorders among oncology surgical patients and their impact on clinical outcome, favoring the inclusion of the initial assessment of nutritional status before surgery and of the nutritional intervention.

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Central Contacts