Nutritional risk and postoperative complications in cancer patients

Abstract

Introduction: Malnutrition has been associated with a poorer prognosis in cancer patients. Thus, the early assessment of nutritional risk in these patients is fundamental. Objective: To identify associations between nutritional risk and postoperative complications in cancer patients. Method: An analytical, observational, longitudinal study was conducted with cancer patients undergoing surgical treatment at a public university hospital in December 2019. Preoperative nutritional risk was assessed using the Nutritional Risk Screening-2002. Variables related to surgery (severity, temporal classification of the procedure, postoperative complications, total hospital stay and postoperative hospital stay) were also collected. Results: Eighty-eight patients were included, 51.1% of whom were adults and 64.8% were female. Nutritional risk was found in 28.4% (n = 25) of patients. The procedures performed were mainly elective (83.1%) and more severe (53.9%). The most frequent category of surgery was miscellaneous, followed by coloproctological, urological and gastric surgeries. Significant associations were found between nutritional risk and both total and postoperative hospital stay (p <0.05). After the surgical interventions, 11.4% (n = 10) of patients at nutritional risk had complications and a marginally significant association was found between nutrition and postoperative pain (p <0.10). Conclusion: Nutritional risk in cancer patients identified in the preoperative period was associated with complications following the surgical procedure and a longer hospital stay. The adoption of nutritional screening methods is recommended so that appropriate interventions are implemented as early as possible.

Keywords

• cirurgia oncológica. desnutrição. complicações pós-operatórias.