FATORES DETERMINANTES DA QUALIDADE DE VIDA EM UMACOORTE DE PACIENTES SUBMETIDOS À QUIMIOTERAPIA

by BORGES, LÚCIA ROTA

Purpose: The objective of this study is to evaluate of the influence of nutritionalstatus on quality of life (QOL) in a cohort of cancer patients receivingchemotherapy (CT).Patients and Methods: Patients who began CT in an Universitary Hospitalwere evaluated prospectively. Nutritional status was assessed by PatientgeneratedSubjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and QOL was assessed byWorld Health Organization Quality of Life-bref scale (WHOQOL-bref). PG-SGAand WHOQOL-bref scale were applied in the beginning and in the end of thestudy.Results: One hundred ninety one patients were evaluated and 64.4% (n=123)were females, aged 58.03 years. Most of them performed neoadjuvant oradjuvant CT (67%) and 38.9% were in stage II. The malnutrition prevalence inthe first evaluation was 29.6%. Malnourished patients showed the worst QOL inthe beginning and in the end of the treatment. Forty two percent of the patientshad an increased nutritional risk in the final evaluation. There was a significant association between the presence of symptoms and increased nutritional risk (p<0.001). Moreover, it was found a significant negative correlation between thevariations in physical domain and nutritional risk scores, showing that as nutritional risk decreases, there was an increase in QOL.Conclusion: We concluded that modifications in nutritional risk are associated to modifications in QOL in cancer patients. It was suggested that these patientsshould receive a multidisciplinary attendance in order to minimize the collateral 25effects of CT and decreasing nutritional risk, with positive repercussions in QOL