PP202 - EFFECT OF AN EXERCISE INTERVENTION ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND FAT-FREE MASS IN PATIENTS WITH HEAD AND NECK CANCER: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
PP202
EFFECT OF AN EXERCISE INTERVENTION ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND FAT-FREE MASS IN PATIENTS WITH HEAD AND NECK CANCER: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
A. Kok1,*, E. Passchier2, A. May3, M. Stuiver2, H. Jager-Wittenaar4,5, R. de Bree6, C. Speksnijder6
1Dietetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, 2Department of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology and Center for Quality of Life, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, 3Department of Epidemiology and Health Economics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, 4Research Group Healthy Ageing, Allied Health Care and Nursing, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, 5Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Dietetics, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, 6Department of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Rationale: Adequate nutritional intake is essential for obtaining optimal effects of exercise training during treatment. This exploratory study assessed the effect of an exercise intervention on nutritional status, fat-free mass (FFM) and intake in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) during chemoradiotherapy (CRT).
Methods: Patients were offered a 10-week, partly supervised, endurance and resistance exercise intervention during CRT (exercise group; EX). A usual care group (UC) was included after completing the recruitment for the exercise intervention. Both groups received dietary treatment. Nutritional status (full PG-SGA), FFM (BIA), resting energy expenditure (REE, indirect calorimetry), and energy and protein intake (food diary) were assessed at baseline and after the intervention. Adequacy of energy and protein intake was defined as; ≥ 90 and ≤ 110% of total energy expenditure in kcal/day (1.3 x REE) and ≥ 100% of total protein requirement in grams/day (1.5 x FFM).
Results: In total, 22 EX patients and 19 UC patients were included and showed no significant differences in baseline characteristics. In both groups, an increase in PG-SGA scores (EX: 5.4, UC: 7.0) and decline in FFM (EX: -2.7 kg, UC: -3.4 kg) was observed. Food diaries were available for a subset of participants. The proportion of patients with an adequate energy intake decreased over time (EX: 7/18 to 4/14, UC 1/8 to 1/11), whereas the proportion of patients with an adequate protein intake slightly increased (EX: 13/19 to 10/14, UC 4/8 to 6/11). No differences were found between the groups.
Conclusion: This study provided no evidence that an exercise intervention improved nutritional status or preserved FFM in HNC patients during CRT. Moreover, nutritional intake, specifically energy intake, was adequate in a minority of patients, emphasizing the need to improve dietary adherence in this population.
Disclosure of Interest: None declared