Investigation on nutrition status and clinical outcome of patients with common cancers in Chinese patients: a multicenter prospective study protocol

Background:Malnutrition is common in patients with cancer, whichadversely affectsthesurvival and quality of life ofcancer patients.However, there is no national data on the prevalence of malnutrition inChinese cancer patients. Thisstudy aims to evaluate the prevalenceof malnutrition and quality of life(QOL)ofChinese patients with localregional, recurrentor metastatic cancer,to address the prognostic value of nutritional status and QOLon the survival of cancer patients in China and to validate the patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) questionnaire in Chinese cancer patients.Methods:Thisisanobservational,multi-centered,and hospital-based prospective cohort study.We aimed to recruit 50,000 cancer patients (age 18and above)overan 8-year period.Data collection will occur within 48hrafter patientsare admitted to hospital, 30-days after hospital admission, and the follow-up will be conducted1-8years after enrolment. The primary outcomeisoverall survival, and secondaryoutcomes arelength of hospital stay and hospital costs. Factors measured are demographic characteristics, tumor characteristics, anthropometry measurements,hematological measurement, body composition, PG-SGAscores,Karnofsky performance status scores,and QLQ C30 scores. This protocol wasapproved by local ethical committees of all the participant hospitals.Conclusions: This multi-centered, large-scale, long-time follow-up prospective study will help diagnose malnutrition in cancer patients in China, and identify the related risk factors associated with the negative outcomes. The anticipated results will highlight the need for a truly scientific appraisal of nutrition therapy, and help to improve outcomes among cancer patients in China.Trial Registration: The trial has been registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1800020329. Registered on 19 December 2018