Prevalence of Malnutrition in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer in Yazd, Iran

Head and neck cancers are accounted for 4.9% of all cancers worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of malnutrition in patients with head and neck cancers in Yazd, Iran.

Eighty-nine patients with locally advanced head and neck cancers who referred to a training clinic or a hospital were included in this cross sectional study. All patients were assessed for nutritional status by Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) questionnaire, and serum albumin and hemoglobin levels.

Bases on PG-SGA assessment, 49.4% of the patients had proper nutrition, 30.4% were at risk or suspected to malnutrition, and 20.2% had severe malnutrition. The prevalence of malnutrition was significantly related to gender of patients, type of treatment and the stage of the disease. There was no significant relationship between the prevalence of malnutrition and age, although the prevalence of severe malnutrition was higher at older ages.

The prevalence of malnutrition among our patients was high. Nutritional evaluation is very important to detect patients at risk of malnutrition or with malnutrition and helps to choose the nutritional treatment.