ABSTRACT
Objective:To understand the effects of proton and heavy ion radiotherapy on nutritional status in patients with malignant tumors and to analyze the influencing factors of adverse events.Methods:Patients with malignant tumors who received proton and heavy ion therapy between October 2016 and September 2021were retrospectively included. The demographic characteristics, clinical diagnosis, radiotherapy regimen, nutritional indicators and adverse events were collected. Paired t test was used to analyze the changes in nutritional status before and after treatment and logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of adverse events. Results:A total of 2,390 patients were enrolled and were stratified into 4 groups according to different radiotherapy regimen, namely proton, heavy ion, proton + heavy ion and photon + heavy ion radiotherapies. The prevalence of nutritional risk were 17.5% and 27.8% at admission and discharge, respectively. The prevalence of nutritional risk at discharge were 73.9% ( χ2 = 237.149, P < 0.01) in patients who received photon + heavy ion radiotherapy and 30.8% ( χ2 = 36.925, P < 0.01) in those who received proton + heavy ion radiotherapy. The prevalence of critical weight loss at discharge was 14.1%, with the absolute weight loss of 4.84 kg ( t = 11.716, P < 0.01) and 1.52 kg ( t = 29.530, P < 0.01) in photon + heavy ion radiotherapy and proton + heavy ion radiotherapy groups, respectively. All groups showed significant changes in serum albumin (ALB) and total lymphocyte count (TLC). Specifically, photon + heavy ion and proton + heavy ion therapy had a greater effect on serum ALB and TLC, with a decrease of 2.88 g/L and 2.18 g/L for ALB as well as a decrease of (1.06×10 9) /L and (0.80×10 9) /L for TLC ( P < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that nutritional risk at admission and concurrent chemotherapy were independent factors for adverse events of proton and heavy ion radiotherapy ( OR = 1.404, 95% CI: 1.039 to 1.898; OR = 2.370, 95% CI: 1.781 to 3.154). Compared with heavy ion radiotherapy, the other 3 groups had more adverse events (proton, OR = 3.982, 95% CI: 2.533 to 6.259; proton + heavy ion, OR = 4.995, 95% CI: 3.688 to 6.766; photon + heavy ion, OR = 7.716, 95% CI: 5.079 to 11.720). Conclusions:Patients receiving proton and heavy ion therapy showed poorer nutritional status. Photon + heavy ion therapy had the greatest impact on nutritional status. Nutritional risk at admission and concurrent chemotherapy were independent factors for adverse events in patients receiving proton and heavy ion therapy.