Cross-Sectional Validation of the NUTRISCORE Screening Tool in Outpatient Oncology Patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Malnutrition in cancer patients is a complex and multifactorial condition. Validated nutritional screening instruments are essential to ensure diagnostic, accuracy and guide effective nutritional interventions. This study aimed to validate the NUTRISCORE instrument in cancer patients undergoing outpatient treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study included 194 patients with neoplasia receiving outpatient care. Clinical data (tumor location, treatment, metastasis, and palliative care) and nutritional information were collected through interviews and electronic medical records. Validation was performed using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) as the reference standard, calculating sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (NPVs), area under the curve (AUC), and agreement using the Kappa coefficient (κ), with a 5% significance level. RESULTS: NUTRISCORE identified 47 patients (24.2%) at nutritional risk, whereas the PG-SGA classified 110 (56.7%). Leukemia, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer were the most frequent tumor types. NUTRISCORE showed 34.55% sensitivity, 89.29% specificity, AUC of 0.71, and Kappa agreement of 0.22. CONCLUSIONS: Despite high specificity, NUTRISCORE showed low sensitivity and weak agreement with PG-SGA, indicating it was not validated for this population. Factors as tumor location may contribute to non-indentification of nutritional risk by the tool.