Evaluating the Usefulness of the Prognostic Nutritional Index and Controlling Nutritional Status in Stratifying Prognosis in Cancer Patients during Gaza War, 2024

Abstract Objective To evaluate the usefulness of nutritional index and disease risk index in prognosis of cancer patients. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 subjects diagnosed with cancer who attended the Outpatient Oncology Clinic of Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) at Al Ahli Arab Hospital (AAH) in the Gaza Strip, State of Palestine, from September 2024 to December 2024. Results 100 participants in the study had a mean age of 50.16 years (± 14.50); their mean weight loss during the war was 15.3 kg (± 5.4), and their BMI was 23.45 (± 4.9). 63% of the participants had at least one family member with cancer, and 42% of them were related to first-degree relatives. 81% of participants only eat once a day if there is a meal present or they may skip meals for a while. 68% of patients complain and require medical assessment by an oncologist. Male patients had a worse prognosis status than female patients. According to the PNI, which shows that 66% of patients have a good prognosis while 34% have a poor prognosis status due to extremely hard conditions. Based on PNI and CONUT scoring interpretations, there was a statistically significant correlation between the type of malignancy and the PNI score (P = 0.002), and there were clinically significant disparities related to location variable (P = 0.022). Conclusion Tools like PNI and CONUT offer valuable, low-cost methods for assessing prognosis and nutritional status, especially for solid tumors. PNI could be used as an independent prognostic indicator for cancer status, while more studies are needed to assess the prognostic role of CONUT.