Nutritional Status of Lung Cancer Patients in Benghazi City of Libya

Abstract

Lung cancer is one of the most common type of cancer in the world and Libya is no exception. Nutrition intervention is often needed for nutrition-related complications of cancer treatment, which include but are not limited to vomiting, anorexia, nausea and, and esophagitis. The purpose of this paper is to identify the nutritional status of lung cancer patients in Benghazi city of Libya via cross-sectional study using Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG‐SGA). The study was carried out on 121 lung cancer patients. Out of 121 lung cancer patients; Only7.5% of the subjects were well nourished. 22.3% of were severe ly malnourished; while 70.2% were either at risk of malnutrition or suspected to develop malnutrition in the future. The mean age of the subjects’ ±SD was 49.5±0.6. Age, family income, and physical activity levels were associated with nutritional status of the subjects at (P< 0.05). All sections of the PG-SGA has a significant statistical positive correlation with its total score (r = 0. 96 – 0.51, P< 0.05). Dietitians played a very limited role in patients’ nutritional care.