Abstract Introduction Nutritional status is a factor that affects the prognosis of cancer patients. The Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF) is a simple nutritional assessment tool that can be scored through healthcare professionals’ interviews. However, its prognostic relevance in patients with lung cancer remains unclear. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 321 consecutive patients diagnosed with lung cancer at our department between January 2022 and December 2023, in whom the MNA-SF was assessed within three months of diagnosis. Following previous reports, MNA-SF scores 12 were defined as malnutrition, whereas scores ≥12 were defined as normal nutritional status. The nutritional assessment based on the MNA-SF score and its association with clinical features and prognosis were investigated. Results The median age was 74 years (range: 47-93), 217 patients (67%) were male, and 274 patients (85%) were pathologically diagnosed non-small cell lung carcinoma. The clinical stages according to the UICC TNM 8th edition were as follows: stage 0, 2 cases; stage I, 138 cases; stage II, 30 cases; stage III, 31 cases; and stage IV, 120 cases. During the two-year observation period, 119 patients (37%) died. The median MNA-SF score was 13 points, and 112 patients (35%) were malnourished. A lower MNA-SF score was significantly associated with a shorter survival period. Compared to the normal nutritional group, the malnutrition group had a higher proportion of women and patients with poor Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-Performance Status and a shorter survival period (median survival period: total 24.0 months vs. not reached, p = 0.044 and stage IV 4.1 months vs. 14.8 months, p 0.001). Conclusion The MNA-SF has been suggested as a potential simple prognostic tool for patients with lung cancer. Based on these results, further studies are warranted to determine whether nutritional interventions for patients with lung cancer identified as malnourished by a low MNA-SF score can improve clinical outcomes. This abstract is funded by: None
Takeda et al. (Fri,) studied this question.