Evaluation of the nutritional and inflammatory status in cancer patients for the risk assessment of severe haematological toxicity following chemotherapy

Abstract

Background: The toxicity outcome of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy is difficult to predict. In this study the influence of malnutrition and inflammation on acute haematological toxicity was investigated. Patients and methods: Between January 1999 and January 2000, 48 consecutive cancer patients experienced severe haematological toxicity (SHT), either neutropenic fever or severe thrombocytopenia, following various chemotherapy regimens. Their baseline characteristics were compared with those of 59 control patients. Previous chemotherapy regimens, type of chemotherapy, performance status (PS), calculated creatinine clearance, bilirubin, C-reactive protein (1), alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (2), albumin (3), pre-albumin (4) and the nutritional and inflammatory status (NIS) ratio [NIS = (1 × 2)/(3 × 4)] were studied. Statistical analysis was carried out using either a t-test or a chi-square test. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve determined the cut-off value for NIS. Results: Patients experiencing SHT had a higher PS (P P P P P P P Conclusions: Altered nutritional and inflammatory status correlates with increased risk of severe haematological toxicity following anticancer chemotherapy.