Malnutrition in patients treated for oral or oropharyngeal cancer—prevalence and relationship with oral symptoms: an explorative study

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess prevalence of malnutrition after treatment for oral/oropharyngeal cancer and to explore how oral symptoms relate to malnutrition after treatment. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, malnutrition (weight loss ≥ 10% in 6 months or ≥5% in 1 month), oral symptoms (EORTC QLQ-H&N35 questionnaire and additional questions to assess chewing problems), dental status, trismus and dietary intake were assessed in 116 adult patients treated for oral/oropharyngeal cancer. RESULTS: Prevalence of malnutrition was 16% (95%CI: 10% to 23%). Prevalence of malnutrition in the period 0–3 months after treatment was significantly higher (25%) than in the periods >3–12 months (13%) and >12–36 months after treatment (3%, p = 0.008). Logistic multivariate regression analysis revealed that swallowing problems (p = 0.021) and insufficient protein intake were significantly related to malnutrition (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, malnutrition is a considerable problem in patients treated for oral/oropharyngeal cancer, shortly after treatment. Of all oral symptoms, only swallowing problems were significantly related to malnutrition in the period after treatment for oral/oropharyngeal cancer.