Preoperative Nutritional Status and Risk Factors Associated With Delayed Discharge in Elderly Patients Undergoing Gastrectomy: A Single-center Retrospective Study

Gastric cancer (GC) remains the 5th most common cancer worldwide and had the second- highest mortality rate in China. The population of elder patients with GC has been increasing because of the high prevalence of H. pylori infection and increasing life expectancy. Elderly GC patients face several challenges during treatment, such as comorbidities, organ dysfunction, immunosuppression, and delayed recovery. Advanced age is associated with a higher rate of postoperative complications shortly after surgical treatment, and lower 5-year overall survival as long-term outcome.

In China, the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized patients is around 12.6% to 46.19%. Malnutrition is one of the great risk factors of adverse clinical outcomes in elderly patients with GC. The nutritional status at the time of diagnosis was independently associated with postoperative complications, overall survival, and disease-free survival. The condition can be caused by mechanical obstruction of the digestive tract or anorexia-cachexia syndrome, leading to insufficient protein or energy intake and absorption disorder. Nutrition screening, assessment, and intervention are important steps in nutritional management.

Previous studies mostly focused on hospitalized internal medical patients. Only a few studies focused on surgical patients regardless of age. Therefore, in this retrospective study, we are going to investigate the nutritional status and perioperative nutritional support of geriatric surgical patients with GC, and provide a basis for implementing an effective nutritional intervention.