ONC: Nutrition Status and Outcomes in Adult Oncology Patients (2013)

ONC: Nutrition Status and Outcomes in Adult Oncology Patients (2013)

Overview

The Oncology Work Group reviewed the relationship between nutrition status and the following morbidity outcomes in adult oncology patients:
  • Hospital Admissions or Re-admissions
  • Hospital Length of Stay
  • Quality of Life
  • Radiation Treatment Tolerance
  • Chemotherapy Treatment Tolerance
Morbidity and Mortality

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health defines morbidity as "a disease or the incidence of disease within a population. Morbidity also refers to adverse effects caused by a treatment." In the case of cancer, examples of morbidity include, but are not limited to side effects of chemotherapy, radiation therapy treatment or surgery, infection, and hospitalization. Morbidity is classified and reported using tools such as the NCI Common Toxicity Criteria (Jaques, 2004).

The studies included in this morbidity topic may have included other outcomes that were not reviewed in our analysis.

In addition, the relationship between nutrition status and mortality, as it relates to the cancer diagnosis was also reviewed.

For an overview of the studies included in this analysis and relationship between nutrition status and outcomes, click here.

For the Oncology Work Group's suggestions for future research on this topic, see ONC: Future Research Suggestions on the left.

Reference: Jaques D. Measuring morbidity. Ann Surg. 2004 August; 240(2): 214–215.