CN13 - Nutriscore: Nutritional screening in colorectal cancer patients previous to cancer-specific treatment

Background

NUTRISCORE is a nutritional screening tool validated in cancer patients (pts) in the outpatient setting, that stands out for its sensitivity, specificity and simplicity. Our objective was to evaluate the value of the implementation of the NUTRISCORE done by the oncology nursing team in ambulatory clinic for patients with recently diagnosed colorectal cancer.

Methods

All pts who attended the first oncology nursing visit of the colorectal cancer functional unit between April and November 2021 were prospectively included. The NUTRISCORE was calculated in the initial assessment. Those pts with a score ≥ 5 were referred to the clinical nutrition functional unit (CNFU) for a more comprehensive nutritional assessment.

Results

92 pts were registered (70.6% men, 29.3% women) and the mean age was 68.61 years. Nineteen pts (20.6%) were referred to CNFU, of which in 57.8% (n=11) the NUTRISCORE score obtained was ≥5. The other 8 pts with NUTRISCORE <5 were referred based on nursing clinical criteria. Of these, 1 patient (pt) was referred due to the high risk of intestinal obstruction, 3 pts needed to start nutritional supplementation for severe malnutrition at the CNFU visit, 1 pt started nutritional support in anticipation of potential gastrointestinal toxicity secondary to treatment, another pt just needed dietary recommendations for moderate malnutrition and 2 pts did not attend to the CNFU visit.

Conclusions

Nursing clinical criteria together with NUTRISCORE, allow us to more effectively detect newly diagnosed colorectal cancer pts at-risk for malnutrition and anticipate their nutritional needs before starting cancer-specific treatment.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

R.M. Legido-Diaz and L. Raventos.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.