ESPEN 2022 Late Breaking Abstracts

Topic: Nutritional assessment

Abstract Submission Identifier: ESPEN22-LB-2130

RESULTS OF NUTRITIONAL SCREENING FOR OBESITY, SARCOPENIA, AND MALNUTRITION IN A PILOT INTEGRATED REHABILITATION PROGRAM FOR BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

D. Mlakar-Mastnak ¹, K. Schara^*, ¹, T. Slapar ¹, N. Palamar ¹, L. Petrica ¹, Z. Mavrič ², N. Bešić ², N. Rotovnik Kozjek ¹

¹Nutritional department, ²Institute of oncology Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Rationale: Obesity, sarcopenia, and malnutrition are associated with lower quality of life, poorer response to treatment, increased treatment-related toxicity, and lower survival in breast cancer patients. Our goal was to assess nutritional risk and identify nutritional diagnoses prevalent in our group of breast cancer patients in order to develop and implement a tailored nutritional support program as part of a pilot study of individualized integrated rehabilitation for breast cancer patients in 2019-2022.

Methods: 505 breast cancer patients were referred to the nutrition department by the integrated rehabilitation coordinator for nutritional screening for the presence of obesity, sarcopenia, and malnutrition. Obesity was determined with a body mass index of ≥ 30 kg/m², sarcopenia with a fat-free mass index (FFMI) ≤ 15 kg/m² (verified with bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA)), and malnutrition with the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria for the diagnosis of malnutrition.

Results: We found that according to the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002), 218 women or (43,19%) were at nutritional risk, 12 (2,38%) of them had ≥3 points. 103 (20,4%) were defined as overweight, 72 (14,26%) as obese stage I, 17 (3,37%) stage II, and 11 (2,18%) stage III. 77 (15,25%) of the women were classified as sarcopenic, 22 (4,36%) as malnourished according to GLIM and 12 (2,38%) as sarcopenic obese.

Conclusion: We found high prevalence of nutritional risk in this group of cancer patients, at the beginning of their treatment. Based on the data obtained through nutritional screening, we developed a tailored pilot nutritional program. For all patients in the intervention group, we designed three group workshops, and for patients diagnosed with sarcopenia, obesity, and malnutrition, we implemented an individualized approach to nutritional treatment and counseling by a clinical dietitian.

References: Cederholm T, Barazzoni R, Austin P, Ballmer P, Biolo G, Bischoff SC, Compher C, Correia I, Higashiguchi T, Holst M, Jensen GL, Malone A, Muscaritoli M, Nyulasi I, Pirlich M, Rothenberg E, Schindler K, Schneider SM, de van der Schueren MA, Sieber C, Valentini L, Yu JC, Van Gossum A, Singer P. ESPEN guidelines on definitions and terminology of clinical nutrition. Clin Nutr. 2017 Feb;36(1):49-64. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2016.09.004. Epub 2016 Sep 14. PMID: 27642056.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared

Keywords: GLIM criteria, Malnutrition, NRS-2002, obesity, sarcopenia