Evaluation of sarcopenia in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy: a cohort study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62827/nb.v23i5.3042Keywords:
Breast neoplasms; sarcopenia. antineoplastics agents; nutritional status.Abstract
Introduction: breast cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients with breast cancer undergo rigorous oncological treatment and usually present weight changes during this period. Sarcopenia is characterized by decreased muscle strength and compromised functional capacities related to severe loss of skeletal muscle tissue. Objective: to evaluate the presence of sarcopenia in women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy and to correlate changes in body composition with types of treatment. Methods: cohort study conducted with women diagnosed with breast cancer and indication for chemotherapy in a private hospital in southern Brazil, followed from July 2018 to February 2020 through nutritional assessment prior to and at the end of treatment. Initial nutritional assessment (t0) occurred before the commencement of any treatment and reassessment (t1) was scheduled for a date after the end of treatment. The collected variables were age in years, body weight, height, waist circumference, physical activity, type of treatment and chemotherapy protocol, symptoms over the period, hand grip strength, percentage of lean mass, percentage of fat mass, water and phase angle (PA). Results: a total of 47 patients completed the study, with a mean age of 47±14 years, mostly sedentary (n=28; 59.6%) and the predominant treatment type was neoadjuvant chemotherapy (n=32; 68%). There was a statistically significant difference in the comparison of t1 with t0 in grip strength (p=0.007) and phase angle (p=0.001), while the difference in lean mass was not significant (p=0.387), characterizing absence of sarcopenia. Conclusion: although the diagnosis of sarcopenia was not conclusive for these patients, we observed compromised functional capacities in women with breast cancer at the end of the chemotherapy treatment.
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