Espessura do músculo adutor do polegar incorporada à prática clínica para diagnóstico nutricional de pacientes oncológicos em tratamento clínico

Abstract

Introduction: The evaluation of nutritional status is very important in patients with cancer and the adductor muscle thickness of the thumb (APMT) appears as an anthropometric prognostic indicator simpler than conventional anthropometry to identify early malnutrition. Objective: To evaluate the relation between the adductor muscle thickness of the thumb with the sociodemographic, clinical variables and the nutritional diagnosis from the subjective nutritional evaluation produced by the patient (NSGA) and conventional anthropometry of patients with cancer in clinical treatment. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a sample of 110 patients with cancer undergoing clinical treatment in a private and specialized clinic in the interior of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. A structured questionnaire was used that contained information regarding sociodemographic and clinical variables. The nutritional status was obtain through NSGA and conventional anthropometry. The Student's t-test or the Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was use to compare the means of APMT according to sociodemographic, clinical and nutritional status. For the associations of interest, the chi-square test (χ2) was use. The level of significance was set at 5% (p <0.05). Results: A total of 110 patients with cancer undergoing clinical outpatient treatment were the most elderly (51.8%), female (62.7%), married (70.0%) and absence of work activity (51.8%). The predominant clinical diagnosis was breast neoplasm (30.0%), in stage IV (34.4%) and non-metastatic (53.6%). When the means of APMT was compare according to sociodemographic and clinical variables, no significant differences was find between the groups, being significant for body mass index and NSGA. The APMT measure showed a significant relationship with gender (p=0.030), work activity (p=0.014) and with the diagnostic groups (p=0.037). There was a significant association between the nutritional status determined by APMT with calf circumference (CC) and NSGA. Conclusion: We suggest that APMT be considered an alternative measure in clinical practice to evaluate the nutritional status of patients with cancer in clinical treatment, regardless of gender, age and staging, concomitant with conventional anthropometry and NSGA because it appeared to be a promising measure for the evaluation of muscle compartment depletion which can be performed in a simple way and without an equation to determine the nutritional diagnosis.