ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the cachexia morbidity among hospitalized patients with digestive system cancer and evaluate its impact on clinical outcomes.Method By analyzing the clinical data of 5 118 hospitalized patients with digestive system cancer in Zhongshan Hospital,Fudan University from January 2012 to December 2013,we investigated the cachexia morbidity and compared the clinical outcome between cachectic patients and noncachectic patients.Results The overall cachexia morbidity of hospitalized patients with digestive system cancer was 15.7％ (803/5 118).The highest cachexia morbidity was 34.0％ (89/173),found in patients with pancreatic cancer.In cachectic group and non-cachectic group,the overall completion rate of radical resection was 67.1％ (539/803) and 74.5％ (3 214/4 315),respectively (P =0.000).Compared to the non-cachectic group,the cachetic group had significantly longer postoperative hospital days [(11.5 ±6.2) d vs (9.4 ±4.9) d,P =0.003],slower postoperative recovery of bowel function [(3.4 ±0.9) d vs (3.2 ±0.8) d,P =0.013],longer postoperative time to intake semifluid [(4.4 ± 1.5) d vs (3.9 ± 1.3) d,P =0.002],and more postoperative complications in 28 days after surgery [8.9％ (48/539) vs 5.8％ (186/3 214),P=0.006].After surgery,131 patients in the cachectic group were transferred to the ICU,and 646 patients in non-cachectic group transferred to the ICU (24.3％ vs 20.0％,P=0.026).Compared to the non-cachecic group,the reoperation rate [3.2％ (17/539) vs 1.5％ (48/3214)],ventilator support rate [8.0％ (43/539) vs 5.7％ (184/3 214)],and mortality [2.4％ (13/539) vs 1.1％ (35/3 214)] of the cachectic group were all significantly higher (P =0.006,0.042,0.011).Conclusions Cachexia is common in hospitalized patients with digestive system cancer,especially in patients with pancreatic cancer.Cachexia has negative impact on the clinical outcomes.