Nutritional status and its influencing factors among elderly patients with malignant tumours: a retrospective study from a tertiary hospital in Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the nutritional status and its influencing factors in elderly patients aged 60 years and above with malignant tumours.

Design: A retrospective observational study.

Setting: The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, a tertiary care hospital in Chengdu, China.

Participants: A total of 450 elderly patients with cancer (aged ≥60 years) admitted between January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2023. Patients were selected based on their clinical records, excluding those with communication disorders, mental illness or incomplete data.

Primary outcome measures: Nutritional status was assessed using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). Participants were categorised based on the presence or absence of malnutrition. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify independent risk factors for malnutrition.

Results: Of the 450 patients included, 63.7% were male and 36.3% female, with a median age of 69 years. The prevalence of severe malnutrition was 46.4%. Univariate analysis showed significant associations between malnutrition and factors such as older age (p<0.001), alcohol consumption (p=0.003), high pain score (p<0.001), diabetes (p<0.001), low body mass index (BMI) (p<0.001), low haemoglobin (p<0.001), elevated C-reactive protein (p<0.001), low albumin (p<0.001), and reduced self-care ability (p<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression identified advanced age (OR=1.08, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.13), low BMI (OR=0.82, 95% CI (CI): 0.74 to 0.90), low serum albumin (OR=0.90, 95% CI: 0.85 to 0.96) and low activities of daily living score (OR=0.97, 95% CI: 0.96 to 0.98) as independent risk factors for malnutrition. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis confirmed the predictive value of these factors.

Conclusions: Malnutrition is highly prevalent in elderly patients with cancer and is significantly associated with age, BMI, albumin levels and self-care ability. Early identification and targeted nutritional interventions may improve outcomes and quality of life in this population.