Performance of Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) in Patients With Advanced Cancer in Palliative Care

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) in patients receiving palliative care for advanced cancer. Methods: The PG-SGA was used to assess nutrition status of 120 patients admitted to the Palliative Care Unit at the National Cancer Institute in Brazil. Results: According to the PG-SGA, 94.2% (n = 113) of the patients were evaluated as malnourished. The PG-SGA evaluated that xerostomia was the only symptom associated with a short survival (odds ratio [OR], 2.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–5.38; P = .014). Survival was found to be significantly higher in well-nourished (PG-SGA A) than malnourished (PG-SGA B [P = .021] or C [P = .013]) patients. Total PG-SGA score (hazard ratio [HR], 1.06; 95% CI, 1.001–1.09; P = .045) and Karnofsky Performance Status of 20%–30% (HR, 15.4; 95% CI, 1.63–92.9; P = .001) and 40%–50% (HR, 10.0; 95% CI, 1.22–64.9; P = .031) were found to be independent prognostic survival factors. Conclusion: The scored PG-SGA is an independent prognostic factor of survival and thus can be a useful tool for nutrition evaluation in palliative care.