Apetite, sintomas e estado nutricional de pacientes com câncer em tratamento quimioterápico

Abstract

Introduction: The disease or treatment itself causes profound changes in the body's functions, resulting in weight loss and changes in nutritional status due to malnutrition,which may involve impairment of appetite/symptoms.Objective: To evaluate the association between appetite/symptoms and sociodemographic, clinical and nutritional status of patients undergoing chemotherapy.Methods: Cross-sectional study with a non-probabilistic sampling design. Patients of both sexes were invited, aged 20 years or over. To estimate the appetite/symptoms the instrument was used Cancer Appetite and Symptoms Questionnaire (CASQ). For nutritional evaluation, subjective and objective methods were used. As subjective method, we used the Global Subjective Evaluation Produced by the Patient, and the objective measures were weight (kg), height (m), body mass index (BMI), arm circumference, triceps skin fold and arm muscle circumference. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. For the associations of interest, the chi-square test (χ2) was used, and the significance level was set at 5% (p <0,05).Results: 49 patients had participated of the study. Most were adults (59,2%), predominantly female (63,3%), married (69,4%), with tumors of the digestive tract (35,9%) followed by breast neoplasm (30,8%), nonmetastatic (61,2%), staging III (37,1%) and 53,1% reported not working. The most prevalent economic classification was B (59,2%). The overall appetite/symptom score was 1,28 ± 0,58, presenting with moderate impairment of appetite / symptoms.Conclusion: There was no association between the impairment of appetite/presence of symptoms with sociodemographic, clinical and nutritional status variables, when evaluated by the instrument CASQ.