Unfavorable impact of cancer cachexia on activity of daily living and need for inpatient care in elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer in Japan: a prospective longitudinal observational study.

BACKGROUND: Cancer cachexia in elderly patients may substantially impact physical function and medical dependency. The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of cachexia on activity of daily living (ADL), length of hospital stay, and inpatient medical costs among elderly patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving chemotherapy. METHODS: Thirty patients aged ≥70 years with advanced NSCLC (stage III-IV) scheduled to receive first-line chemotherapy were prospectively enrolled between January 2013 and November 2014. ADL was assessed using the Barthel index. The disability-free survival time (DFS) was calculated as the time between the date of study entry and the date of onset of a disabling event, which was defined as a 10-point decrease in the Barthel index from that at baseline. The mean cumulative function of the length of hospital stay and inpatient medical costs (¥, Japanese yen) was calculated. RESULTS: The study patients comprised 11 women and 19 men, with a median age of 74 (range, 70-82) years. Cachexia was diagnosed in 19 (63%) patients. Cachectic patients had a shorter DFS (7.5 vs. 17.1 months, p < 0.05). During the first year from study entry, cachectic patients had longer cumulative lengths of hospital stay (80.7 vs. 38.5 days/person, p < 0.05), more frequent unplanned hospital visits or hospitalizations (4.2 vs. 1.7 times/person, p < 0.05), and higher inpatient medical costs (¥3.5 vs. ¥2.1 million/person, p < 0.05) than non-cachectic patients. CONCLUSIONS: Elderly NSCLC patients with cachexia showed higher risks for disability, prolonged hospitalizations, and higher inpatient medical costs while receiving chemotherapy than patients without cachexia. Our results might indicate that there is a potential need for an early intervention to minimize progression to or development of cachexia, improve functional prognosis, and reduce healthcare resource burden in this population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Trial registration number: UMIN000009768 . Name of registry: UMIN (University hospital Medical Information Network). Date of registration: 14 January 2013. Date of enrolment of the first participant to the trial: 23 January 2013.

Differences in Symptom Burden Among Cancer Patients With Different Stages of Cachexia.

CONTEXT: Cancer patients with cachexia may suffer from significant burden of symptoms and it can severely impair patients' quality of life. However, only few studies have targeted the symptom burden in cancer cachexia patients, and whether the symptom burden differed in different cachexia stages is still unclear. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to evaluate the symptom burden in cancer cachexia patients and to compare the severity and occurrence rates of symptoms among cancer patients with non-cachexia, pre-cachexia, cachexia, and refractory cachexia. METHODS: Advanced cancer patients (n = 306) were included in this cross-sectional study. Patients were divided into four groups, based on the cachexia stages of the international consensus. The M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory added with eight more cachexia-specific symptoms were evaluated in our patients. Differences in symptom severity and occurrence rates among the four groups were compared using one-way ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test analyses. RESULTS: Lack of appetite, disturbed sleep, fatigue, lack of energy, and distress were the symptoms with highest occurrence rates and severity scores in all four groups and were exacerbated by the severity of cachexia stages. After confounders were adjusted for, significant differences were seen in symptoms of pain, fatigue, disturbed sleep, remembering problems, lack of appetite, dry mouth, vomiting, numbness, feeling dizzy, early satiety, lack of energy, tastes/smell changes, and diarrhea. CONCLUSION: This study identified higher symptom burden in cancer patients with cachexia and it increased with the stages of cachexia, which emphasized the importance of screening in multiple co-occurring symptoms for cachexia patients.

A systematic review and thematic synthesis of quality of life in the informal carers of cancer patients with cachexia.

BACKGROUND: Informal carers of cancer patients with cachexia face additional challenges to those encountered by informal carers in general because of the central role food and eating play in everyday life. Patient weight loss and anorexia, core features of cancer cachexia, are frequent causes of distress in caregivers. Identification of quality of life issues can inform the development of interventions for both caregivers and patients and facilitate communication with healthcare professionals. AIM: To identify quality of life issues that are relevant to carers of cancer patients with cachexia. DESIGN: A systematic review and thematic synthesis of the qualitative literature were conducted. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES were searched for publications dated from January 1980 to February 2015 using search terms relating to cancer, cachexia, quality of life and carers. Papers written in the English language, featuring direct quotes from the carers of adult patients with any cancer diagnosis and cachexia or problems with weight loss or anorexia, were included. RESULTS: Five themes were extracted from the 16 identified studies. These highlighted the impact on everyday life, the attempts of some carers to take charge, the need for healthcare professional's input, conflict with the patient and negative emotions. CONCLUSION: The complexity of caring for a cancer patient with cachexia translates into a range of problems and experiences for informal carers. By addressing the impact of caring for a patient with cancer cachexia on carers, both caregiver and patient quality of life may improve.

The association of nutritional assessment criteria with health-related quality of life in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma.

Health-related quality of life (QoL) is a goal in nutritional oncology but the association between nutritional status and QoL is rarely explored. The aim of the study was to investigate the association of nutritional assessment criteria with QoL in 50 patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma. A second aim was to investigate changes in body weight and QoL during a 3-month follow-up. Muscle mass, nutritional risk, malnutrition and cachexia according to three different criteria were assessed, as well as health-related QoL. At inclusion, 36 patients experienced weight loss, 10 patients sarcopenia, 25 were at nutritional risk, 16 were malnourished and 11, 14 and 31 patients had cachexia according to different criteria. All nutritional assessment criteria discriminated between groups of patients with worse or better QoL to varying degrees. Malnutrition and cachexia defined by the European Palliative Care Research Collaborative and adjusted for recent gain or stabilisation of body weight discriminated on most QoL scores. Weight loss at follow-up was associated with a decrease in several QoL scores. Recognition of weight loss as well as diagnosing malnutrition and cachexia should be the first steps in an interventional pathway to enhance nutritional status and QoL in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma.

Cachexia assessment tools.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Cachexia is a common negative consequence of cancer and is often unrecognized. To assess cachexia, malnutrition assessment tools are used. This review discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the current malnutrition assessment tools and describes the requirements for a comprehensive cachexia assessment instrument and its implication for clinics and research. RECENT FINDINGS: The historic definition of cachexia has been updated based on new understanding of mechanism and clinical concepts. Classification of cachectic patients includes novel domains and stages. Validated cachexia assessment tools based on the new classification are under development. SUMMARY: Cachexia has an impact for patients and proxies. Due to a lack of formal cachexia assessment instrument, malnutrition assessment tools are in use. Future comprehensive cachexia assessment instruments will identify cachexia domains and stages and classify cachexia, the basis for better clinical treatment and research.

'The reflections you get': an exploration of body image and cachexia.

BACKGROUND: cachexia has a detrimental effect on quality of life and is an indicator of poor prognosis. The meanings people attach to their lived experiences of cachexia are unknown. AIMS: to explore the impact of cachexia on body image of people with advanced cancer, their emotions, relationships and social functioning. DESIGN: qualitative study using face-to-face in-depth interviews of a conversational style. Rich narrative data analysed by thematic content analysis. PARTICIPANTS: 12 participants recruited from two community palliative care teams in south east England. RESULTS: altered body image impacts on other aspects of embodiment: the emotions, spirituality, relationships and social functioning. Lives were restricted and isolated, which was compounded by emotional distancing by carers and health care professionals. Participants discussed their repeated attempts to re-adapt to disruptions of self caused by an altered body image. CONCLUSIONS: the key study implications focus on the need for (i) improved holistic care and support, and advice; (ii) training and awareness raising of care professionals; (iii) further research on the lived experiences of the condition and the development of effective measures of cachexia.