Association of malnutrition with postoperative complication risk after curative surgery for oral cancer Observational study

Abstract

Malnutrition is common among patients who have oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but its effect on the incidence of postoperative complications remains uncertain. Validated nutrition and complication assessment tools were used to evaluate the effects of nutrition on the likelihood of postoperative complications after curative surgery for OSCC. A retrospective study that spanned January 2014 to December 2018 enrolled 70 patients who received curative surgery for OSCC. Nutritional status before surgery was evaluated with the scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), and patients were classified as either well-nourished (rating A) or malnourished (ratings B and C). Complications 30 days after the operation were graded using Clavien-Dindo classification. The perioperative clinicopathological characteristics of the groups were compared, and risk factors for postoperative complications were identified through logistic regression. A total of 44 (62.8%) patients formed the malnourished group, and they tended to be older (P=.03), weigh less (P=.001), have lower Body Mass Index (P=.003), higher PG-SGA scores (P