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Weight changes correlate with alterations in subjective physical function in advanced cancer patients referred to a specialized nutrition and rehabilitation team

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to assess whether short-term weight gain correlates with improvements in subjective markers of quality of life and physical function in patients referred to a clinic for management of cancer cachexia.

Methods

A retrospective review of the records of 306 patients referred to a specialized multi-disciplinary supportive care team with particular interest in treating cancer cachexia. Weight changes between each of the first three clinic visits, were correlated with the corresponding changes in patient-rated performance status, perceived strength and quality of life. In a second cohort of 56 patients, the correlation between perceived strength and quality of life was re-tested using a more detailed quality of life tool.

Results

Even over short time intervals positive correlations were observed for weight change vs. change in patient-rated performance status (R s > 0.15, P < 0.05), and for changes in perceived strength vs. quality of life (R s > 0.33, P < 0.001). The correlation between changes in patient-rated strength and quality of life was consistent across all subgroups studied and was reproducible when using a different, validated, quality of life tool (FAACT) in a second independent patient cohort.

Conclusions

Weight gains are associated with subjective improvements in physical functioning, and changes in perceived physical strength are consistently correlated with quality of life.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mary Kanbalian for all her help with data collection, supervising data entry and data extraction for this study. In addition, the authors would like to thank the current and past members of the CNR-JGH team for collecting and entering the data used, Dr. Goulnar Kasymjanova for database support during the early years of data collection, and Dr. Neil MacDonald MD and Mary-Ann Dalzell PT who were the founding members of the first CNR-JGH clinic in 2002. Finally, the authors gratefully acknowledge Lillian and Stephen Vineberg, and the organizers and participants of the Angel Ball and the Annual Lila Sigal Hockey Marathon for funding to support the CNR-JGH service.

Conflict of Interests

The authors have no conflict of interests to declare, and also state that individuals or groups who have provided funding for the CNR-JGH activities have not been involved in any aspect of the study design, execution or analysis. The authors confirm that they have full control of the anonymized primary data and agree that the journal may review this data on request.

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Thomas Jagoe.

Additional information

Monica P. Parmar and Tara Swanson contributed equally to this work

Electronic supplementary material

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Fig. 2

The self-report questionnaires used to collect data on performance status from box 4 of the PG-SGA tool (a) and global quality of life and strength (b). (PPTX 164 kb)

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Parmar, M.P., Swanson, T. & Jagoe, R.T. Weight changes correlate with alterations in subjective physical function in advanced cancer patients referred to a specialized nutrition and rehabilitation team. Support Care Cancer 21, 2049–2057 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1762-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1762-2

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