Association of dietary total antioxidant capacity with anthropometric indicators, C-reactive protein, and clinical outcomes in hospitalized oncologic patients.

OBJECTIVE: Many studies have shown an inverse association between higher dietary total antioxidant capacity (DTAC) and chronic non-communicable diseases, including cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of the DTAC with anthropometric and biochemical indicators and clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with cancer. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 196 hospitalized patients diagnosed with cancer. The DTAC, determined by the ferric-reducing antioxidant power method, was calculated using a validated standard spreadsheet. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the association, identifying anthropometric indicators that were associated with DTAC and the variables of interest. P < 0.05 was statistically significant. RESULTS: The individuals included in the last tertile of DTAC presented lower occurrences of death (P = 0.032), constipation (P = 0.010), dysphagia (P = 0.010), painful swallowing and chewing (P = 0.019), and dehydration (P = 0.032) than individuals in the first tertile. The C-reactive protein values were significantly lower (P = 0.010) and handgrip strength values were higher (P = 0.037) in individuals in the third tertile than in the other participants. CONCLUSIONS: DTAC was associated with a better prognosis of hospitalized cancer patients, considering signs and symptoms of nutritional impact, as well as the inflammatory state of the patients. These factors may influence the length of hospital stay and mortality. The findings of this research provide important information for a preventive and nutritional management perspective in this population.

Food preferences and aversions of patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: This longitudinal, qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory study aimed to identify and understand the food preferences and aversions arising from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), chemotherapy, and/or radiotherapy treatment. METHODS: An open and individual interview was carried out with patients diagnosed with hematological diseases or cancer, submitted to HSCT, chemotherapy, and/or radiotherapy treatment. The participants answered the following questions: "Have you experienced any changes in taste since the beginning of radiotherapy/chemotherapy?"; "Have you experienced any strange taste in your mouth, aversion or preference for a certain food that did not exist before the beginning of radiotherapy/chemotherapy?" The software IRAMUTEQ (R Interface for Multidimensional Analysis of Texts and Questionnaires) version 0.7 alpha 2 was used for textual analysis, with similarity analysis and word cloud. RESULTS: One hundred and forty six patients were included in the study, 50% (n = 73) female and 73% (n = 50) elderly. The main words reported by the participants in regards to food aversions were "meat", "beef" and "chicken", which are related to dysphagia. Regarding food preferences, the most mentioned words were "fruits", "juices" and "soups", whose consumption was associated with an improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms, especially nausea. CONCLUSION: Adjustments in the diet plan based on this information can contribute to a better acceptance of the diet, and clinical and nutritional prognosis.

Hand grip strength as predictor of undernutrition in hospitalized patients with cancer and a proposal of cut-off.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hand Grip Strength (HGS) has been proposed as an indicator of nutritional status, being an easy and non-invasive method and presenting high reliability among evaluators. However, there are no cut-off points. To compare HGS with objective methods of nutritional assessment and to propose a cut-off point for its use as a predictor of malnutrition in cancer patients. METHODS: This is a retrospective study with 76 patients (52.6% females, 56.8 ± 16.6 years old) admitted with a diagnosis of cancer in hospitals of Belo Horizonte (MG, Brazil). We evaluated the HGS of the dominant hand, Body Mass Index (BMI), calf circumference (CC), and arm circumference (AC), using the Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, being the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) the reference method. Statistical tests were performed according to the distribution of the variables, verified by the Shapiro-Wilk test. The level of significance adopted was 5%. RESULTS: The HGS was higher in men (p = 0.001) and adults (p = 0.002). The HGS presented a better performance in the prediction of malnutrition (AUC = 0.766, 95% CI = 0.656-0.936) compared to the anthropometric indicators, with a cut-off point of 32.5 kg (sensitivity of 90.5% and specificity of 61.5%). The prevalence of malnutrition was 82.9% and 81.6% for PG-SGA and proposed cut-off point for HGS, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The HGS was more sensitive to identify individuals at risk of malnutrition compared to other recognized indicators of nutritional status, indicating its application in a hospital setting with cancer patients.