• Akimasa Fukuta, Takashi Saito, Shunsuke Murata, Daisuke Makiura, Junichiro Inoue, Maho Okumura, Yoshitada Sakai, and Rei Ono.
• Department of Community Health Sciences, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan.
• Nutrition. 2019 Feb 1; 58: 65-68.

ObjectivesThe aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of preoperative cachexia on postoperative length of stay (LOS) in elderly patients with gastrointestinal cancer.MethodsThis prospective cohort study enrolled 98 patients (≥60 y of age) with gastric or colorectal cancer who were scheduled to undergo curative surgery and were categorized as either having cachexia or as being in a non-cachexia group. The definition of cachexia was patients with >5% loss of stable body weight over the previous 6 mo, a body mass index (BMI) <20 kg/m2 and ongoing weight loss >2%, or sarcopenia and ongoing weight loss >2%. Multivariable Poisson regression analysis was performed with postoperative LOS as the dependent variable and the presence of cachexia as the independent variable, and age, sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, education, cancer type, clinical stage, surgical approach, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index as confounding variables.ResultsTwenty-two patients (22.4%) were diagnosed with cachexia. Postoperative LOS was 17.1 ± 8.7 d in the non-cachexia group and 20.6 ± 10.8 d in the cachexia group. Multivariable Poisson analysis showed that preoperative cachexia was significantly associated with prolonged postoperative LOS after adjustment (2.41 d; 95% confidence interval, 0.28 to 4.55; P = 0.027).ConclusionsOur results suggested that preoperative cachexia prolongs postoperative LOS in elderly patients with gastrointestinal cancer, implying that cachexia should be assessed and treated before surgery.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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