Abstract:
Background: Nutrition is a crucial element of tertiary prevention in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. It is a fundamental part of complex therapeutic process. The proper nutritional status of oncological patient is really essential to prevent disease progression and numerous serious complications, such as malnutrition, anorexia, cachexia, eating disorders and a lot of systemic disfunctions. Cancer progress and its therapy cause many side effects that reduce the quality of life.
Aim: Analysis of preventive activities in the field of tertiary nutritional and proheatlh prevention, including determining of the dependencies between these attitudes and the gender, education and body mass index (BMI) of patients.
Methodology: The study involved 212 CRC patients. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 202 CRC patients were qualified for further research procedures. The research was conducted in two hospitals in Silesia Region, Poland and using the snowball method as a non-random sampling to increase the sample size. The research tool was the original questionnaire. After the study, each patient was offered prohealth education and individual nutritional advices. Data were processed in Microsoft Excel and Statistica 13.3 for Windows. Numbers and percentages were used in descriptive statistics. Chi-Square test was made to check statistical dependencies. P-value<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: Half of the patients did not follow a proper diet (n=101; 50.0%). Majority of the study group declared side effects during treatment (92.6%). More than half of the patients ate only 3 meals a day (57.4%). However, snacks in the form of simple carbohydrates were often consumed (n=67; 33.2%). Many respondents consumed vegetables and fruits in raw form (n=140; 69.3%). Almost a quarter of the patients were not physically active at all (n=45; 22.3%). Half of the respondents indicated that they consumed 1.5 liters of fluids per day (n=101; 50.0%). One third of patients admitted that they drink sweetened drinks several times a month (n=68; 33.6%). According to patients, some health and nutritional aspects were more beneficial during the disease (tertiary prevention) than before the disease (primary prevention). Elements that were indicated as more beneficial: current nutrition (n=112, 55.5%), absorbing more fluids (n=86; 42.6%), snacking less often (n=69; 34.2%), choosing high-protein products (n =59; 29.2%). Men consumed ethanol drinks significantly more often than women (13.3% vs. 0.8%; p=0.0004). Women chose low-proof alcoholic beverages significantly more often (46.7% vs. 6.3%; p=0.0007). Patients with basic vocational education smoked cigarettes significantly more often (n=7; 15.6%) than those with secondary (n=8; 8.3%) and higher education (n=3; 4.9%) (p=0.02). Respondents with obesity consumed meat significantly more often (n=7; 25.0%) than patients with normal body mass (n=4; 6.5%) (p=0.02).
Conclusions: The analysis showed pro- and anti-health activities of patients. Behaviors that are unfavorable require modification and nutritional education. It was found that less satisfactory strategies were presented by respondents: male gender, with lower education and excessive body mass. It proves the need to strengthen health-promoting activities in comprehensive tertiary prevention by an interdisciplinary team, especially among patients with weaker health-promoting behaviors.
Audience Take Away:
- The presented research area will outline the essence of nutrition and lifestyle in the tertiary prevention of cancer. This will make it easier to understand the needs of this group of patients, and it will also be possible to partially prevent and minimalize the occurrence of side effects.
- The presented own research will help to understand the significant importance of an interdisciplinary therapeutic team in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, including cancer. What is more, it may add dietary strategy based on gender, education and BMI in cancer patients.
- All medical students, physicians and nutritionists as well as employees could expand own research with numerous, valuable elements. Thanks to this, the presented own study will gain in scientific value, gain new interdisciplinary aspects and reveal many other important areas and research problems.
- It seems that the presented topics provide practical solutions. It indicates the need for the presence of an oncological dietitian in the therapeutic process of the disease. This will undoubtedly help ensure the best possible nutritional status of patients and implement appropriate nutritional interventions depending on the individual condition and needs of patients.
