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In the face of developing data that nutritional status and exercise significantly impact survival and quality of life in Cancer patients, a recent study from Queensland Centre for Gynaecological Cancer, The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia showed that malnutrition in gynecologic cancer patients is a very significant problem. This is especially true in women who have ovarian cancer.

To assess the nutritional status of patients with gynaecological cancer a prospective study assessing the nutritional status of gynaecological patients with suspected or proven gynaecological cancer was carried out at the Queensland Centre for Gynaecological Cancer, Brisbane, Australia; a tertiary referral centre for gynaecological cancer.

One hundred forty-five patients with suspected or proven gynaecological cancer aged 20-91 years were enrolled. Scored patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) and serum albumin before treatment was recorded. One hundred and sixteen (80%) patients were categorized as PG-SGA class A, 29 (20%) patients were PG-SGA B and none of the patients were PG-SGA C. Ovarian cancer patients had significantly lower serum albumin levels (P=0.003) and higher PG-SGA scores (P<0.001) than patients with other types of cancer and benign conditions. Sixty-seven per cent of patients with ovarian cancer were classified as PG-SGA B. After adjusting for patient's age, BMI and albumin level, ovarian cancer patients were 19 times more likely to be categorized as PG-SGA class B compared to patients with benign conditions (95% confidence interval: 3.03-129.8; P=0.002).

The authors' conclusion was that malnutrition in gynecological cancer patients is a significant problem, especially among those patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Study reference: European Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 4 October 2006; doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602540.

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