Alessio Molfino1, Marian A E de van der Schueren2, Karla Sánchez-Lara3, Pilar Milke4, Maria Ida Amabile1, Giovanni Imbimbo1, Luca Di Lazzaro1, Silvio Cavuto5, Giovanni Ronzani6, Anton Snegovoy7, Ioannis Gioulbasanis8, Alessandro Laviano9. 1. Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, V.le dell'Università 37, Rome, Italy. 2. Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, VU Amsterdam Main Building De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; HAN University of Applied Sciences, School of Allied Health, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. 3. Independent Consultant, Mexico City, Mexico. 4. National Institute of Health Sciences and Nutrition "Salvador Zubirán", Mexico City, Mexico. 5. Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit, Infrastructure Research and Statistic, Azienda USL-IRCCS of Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy. 6. ULSS5, Vicenza, Italy. 7. N.N. Blokhin Cancer Research Centre, Moscow, Russian Federation. 8. Oncology Department, Larissa University Hospital, Larissa, Greece. 9. Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, V.le dell'Università 37, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: alessandro.laviano@uniroma1.it.
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Anorexia is a frequent symptom in cancer and we aimed to assess its prevalence among patients at their first cancer diagnosis by different appetite tools and the relationship between each tool with self-reports of food intake. We also tested whether cancer anorexia influences outcomes independently of reduced food intake or body weight loss (BWL) overtime and whether BWL was associated with complications during anticancer-therapy. METHODS: Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy (FAACT) score, self-assessment of appetite, Anorexia Questionnaire (AQ) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were administered. Percent of food intake was used as a criterion measure of anorexia. We registered BWL and anticancer-therapy complications over 3-month-follow-up. RESULTS: 438 cancer patients from 7 cancer-centers worldwide were included. The prevalence of anorexia was 39.9% by FAACT score, 40.2% by VAS, 40.6% by the self-assessment of appetite and 65.4% by AQ. Low food intake (≤50%) was reported in 28% of patients. All appetite tools correlated with food intake percent (P < 0.0001). We documented a correlation between self-assessment of appetite, FAACT score, VAS and BWL overtime (P < 0.04). The self-assessment of appetite (P = 0.0152) and the FAACT score (P = 0.043) were associated with BWL independently of anticancer therapies. Among patients with BWL, the risk to develop complications was greater with respect to those who maintained a stable or gained body weight (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: In our sample of cancer patients, FAACT score and self-assessment of appetite performed well when low food intake was used as a criterion measure, and revealed an association of anorexia with BWL, which was, in turn, related to the development of anticancer-therapy complications.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Anorexia is a frequent symptom in cancer and we aimed to assess its prevalence among patients at their first cancer diagnosis by different appetite tools and the relationship between each tool with self-reports of food intake. We also tested whether cancer anorexia influences outcomes independently of reduced food intake or body weight loss (BWL) overtime and whether BWL was associated with complications during anticancer-therapy. METHODS: Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy (FAACT) score, self-assessment of appetite, Anorexia Questionnaire (AQ) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were administered. Percent of food intake was used as a criterion measure of anorexia. We registered BWL and anticancer-therapy complications over 3-month-follow-up. RESULTS: 438 cancer patients from 7 cancer-centers worldwide were included. The prevalence of anorexia was 39.9% by FAACT score, 40.2% by VAS, 40.6% by the self-assessment of appetite and 65.4% by AQ. Low food intake (≤50%) was reported in 28% of patients. All appetite tools correlated with food intake percent (P < 0.0001). We documented a correlation between self-assessment of appetite, FAACT score, VAS and BWL overtime (P < 0.04). The self-assessment of appetite (P = 0.0152) and the FAACT score (P = 0.043) were associated with BWL independently of anticancer therapies. Among patients with BWL, the risk to develop complications was greater with respect to those who maintained a stable or gained body weight (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: In our sample of cancer patients, FAACT score and self-assessment of appetite performed well when low food intake was used as a criterion measure, and revealed an association of anorexia with BWL, which was, in turn, related to the development of anticancer-therapy complications.
Authors: Alessio Molfino; Raffaella Carletti; Giovanni Imbimbo; Maria Ida Amabile; Roberta Belli; Cira R T di Gioia; Elena Belloni; Francesco Spinelli; Veronica Rizzo; Carlo Catalano; Giuseppe Nigri; Maurizio Muscaritoli Journal: J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle Date: 2021-12-22 Impact factor: 12.910
Authors: Alessio Molfino; Roberta Belli; Giovanni Imbimbo; Raffaella Carletti; Maria Ida Amabile; Federica Tambaro; Cira R T di Gioia; Elena Belloni; Elisabetta Ferraro; Giuseppe Nigri; Maurizio Muscaritoli Journal: Cancers (Basel) Date: 2022-04-12 Impact factor: 6.575