Effect of nutrition impact symptoms on oral nutritional supplements energy intake in head and neck cancer patients treated by chemotherapy: a retrospective, cross-sectional study

Abstract Background This study aims to explore the effect of nutritional impact symptoms (NIS) on oral nutritional supplements (ONS) energy intake among head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. Methods A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted in HNC patients in a hospital in western China between January 2019 and June 2020. The NIS were from the “self-reported symptoms affecting dietary intake” of the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) scale. Binary logistic regression was used to determine the effect of NIS on ONS energy intake. Results The most prevalent five NIS were no appetite (43.8%), nausea (18.8%), dysphagia (15.4%), vomiting (15.0%) and early satiety (12.9%), respectively. And patients with nausea (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.12–0.57) or vomiting (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.15–0.80) or early satiety (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.17–0.97) were less likely to have ONS energy intake > 400 kcal/d than those without these symptoms after adjusting for the confounding factors. Conclusion Nausea, vomiting or early satiety should be focused and intervened to improve the nutritional status of the HNC patients.