Analysis of nutritional status and its influencing factors in patients with head and neck cancer: An observational study

The objective of this study was to explore the short-term changes in nutritional status from preoperative to 2 months postoperatively in head and neck cancer patients, as well as the influencing factors, to provide guidance for clinical interventions. A total of 148 patients with head and neck cancer admitted to the Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, were selected. A general questionnaire (demographic data, tumor-related data, body mass index, laboratory indicators) was used to understand the basic information of the patients. The Nutritional Risk Screening score (NRS 2002) was measured before treatment, 1 and 2 months after finishing treatment. The data was processed by SPSS 25.0 software package for univariate and multivariate analyses. Among the 148 patients, 71 cases (47.9%) had a persistent good nutrition, 38 cases (25.7%) had a worsening nutritional risk, 18 cases (12.2%) alternated between good and poor nutritional risk, 3 cases (2.0%) had an improving nutritional risk, and 38 cases (25.7%) had a persistent nutritional risk. Multiple logistic regression showed that patients with prolonged tube feeding time, low albumin levels, total protein deficiency, low serum creatinine, low blood urea nitrogen, low red blood cells, and hemoglobin were more likely to develop persistent nutritional risk. The nutritional status of patients with head and neck cancer was affected by various factors from preoperative to 2 months postoperatively. Medical workers should pay attention to the high-risk groups of malnutrition and carry out periodic nutritional monitoring, to take a series of targeted nutritional support treatments.