Background:Malnutrition is common after colorectal cancer surgery and may persist beyond hospital discharge. This study aimed to assess postoperative nutritional status in patients with colorectal cancer at short term follow-up after discharge.
Methods:In this study, adult patients with pathologically confirmed colorectal cancer who underwent tumor resection were assessed at 2 weeks and 1 month postoperatively in an outpatient surgical clinic in Mashhad, Iran. Nutritional status was evaluated using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). Dietary intake was assessed using 3-day24-hour dietary recalls. Anthropometry and body composition were recorded. Nutrition-impact symptoms were graded using CTCAE v5. Physical function was assessed.
Results: A total of 117 patients were included with mean age 57.55 ± 13.18 years and 55.6% were female. The mean PG-SGA score increased from 9.32±4.03 at 2 weeks to 10.41±3.50 at 1 month postoperatively(p<0.001). 43.6% of patients and 55.6% of patients required critical nutritional intervention(PG-SGA score ≥9) respectively (p<0.001). Body weight decreased from 65.49±14.70 to 62.80±14.40 kg and underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m²) rose from 14.5% to 21.2% (p<0.001). At 2 weeks,patients aged <65 years had higher PG-SGA scores than those aged ≥65 years (10.17±4.20 vs 8.95±3.89; p=0.01), with no significant difference at 1 month. Higher PG-SGA scores correlated inversely with BMI (ρ=-0.40, p<0.001), FFMI (ρ=-0.432, p<0.001), and total body water (ρ=-0.264, p=0.003).
Conclusion: malnutrition were highly prevalent and tended to worsen during the first postoperative month after colorectal cancer surgery. These findings support routine, repeated post-discharge nutritional assessment and timely nutrition care focused on intake optimization during early recovery.