Resumo

FUCHS TARLOVSKY, Vanessa  e  GUTIERREZ SALMEAN, Gabriela. Nutritional situation in patients with cancer admitted in a public hospital of Mexico City . Rev cubana med [online]. 2008, vol.47, n.2. ISSN 0034-7523.

The percentage of the habitual and ideal weight and the body mass index (BMI), as well as the percentages of food adequacy and the stay of the patients admitted in the Oncology Service of the General Hospital of Mexico were evaluated to determine the frequency of malnutrition in these patients and to compare the real food consumption during their stay according to the amount of energy and protein required. 117 patients were assessed and classified into 2 groups: malnourished/at risk for malnutrition and nutritionally normal, according to the evaluated indicator. A descriptive and comparative analysis was made by t tests to estimate the difference between means and compare both groups. Different malnutrition frequencies that ranged from 18 to 37 % were observed. It was found that the daily energy intake was 1 000 kcal and 42 g of proteins as an average, values which are under the 70 % required by the patients. The BMI and the loss of habitual weight proved to be significant indicators to evaluate the nutritional state and the energy and protein intake as marked risk variables regarding malnutrition. The hospital stay was not significant in the nutritional state of the patients. It was concluded that the cancer patients hospitalized in our institution show an elevated frequency of malnutrition due to the presence of cachexia, a phenomenon composed of different factors, such as weight loss and anorexia. It is important to disseminate the impact of the nutritional state on the course of the cancerous disease, since it influences on the prognosis, therapeutic response, hospital stay, costs and quality of life.

Palavras-chave : Malnutrition; cancer; cachexia; weight loss; energy intake; protein intake.

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