Lifestyle behaviors, nutritional habits and nutritional status in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy

In this study, it was aimed to determine the lifestyle behaviors, food consumption frequencies, risky eating habits and nutritional status of patients who were followed up with a diagnosis of cancer and received chemotherapy in Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University (TNKU) Hospital Medical Oncology clinic according to the cancer types and to be successful in the trainings/interventions to be carried out regarding the lifestyle habits and nutritional forms to be recommended to cancer patients during and after treatment in the light of the findings. This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted on 176 patients receiving chemotherapy in TNKU Medical Faculty Hospital Medical Oncology Clinic. In order to collect data, a two-part "Questionnaire Form" that questions the demographic information and disease history of the person as well as lifestyle and nutritional habits and food preparation and storage conditions, a "Short Nutritional Assessment Form" consisting of three questions and used to determine whether the patients need nutritional intervention, and a "Food Consumption Frequency Form" were used. Information about all individuals participating in the study was obtained by asking the questions in the survey form directly to the individuals, face to face. The data were evaluated in the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 program, and mean ± Standard deviation was used for descriptive statistics and rates were used for count values. Student t test and Chi-Square tests were applied for comparative analyses. 54% of the participants were female and 46% were male. While breast cancer is the most common cancer type in female patients, lung cancer is more common in male patients. The nutritional habits of the participants were evaluated according to the Brief Nutritional Assessment Form (KNDF), and it was determined that 64.2% of the women and 39.5% of the men were well nourished (p<0.05). 55.2% of the patients had a body mass index (BMI) above 25. The participants' nutrition was evaluated according to the KNDF, and it was determined that those with a body mass index of 40 and above were the most nourished with 83.3% (p<0.05). Due to the side effects of chemotherapy, 60.2% of patients may skip meals. It was observed that women had a more balanced and healthy diet than men (p<0.001). In order to create an adequate and balanced nutritional pattern for the participants, the nutrition of the individuals should be monitored by a specialist from the moment of diagnosis and it may be recommended to evaluate the nutritional status during the treatment period.