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Screening with the SNAQ and early standardized nutritional care improves the recognition of malnourished patients and provides the opportunity to start treatment at an early stage of hospitalization. The additional costs of early nutritional care are low, especially in frail malnourished patients.

Background:Pre-treatment weight loss (WL) is a prognostic indicator for overall survival (OS) in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. This study investigates the association between WL before or during radiotherapy and disease-specific survival (DSS) in HNC patients.Methods:In 1340 newly diagnosed HNC patients, weight change was collected before and during (adjuvant) radiotherapy with curative intent. Critical WL during radiotherapy was defined as >5% WL during radiotherapy or >7.5% WL until week 12. Differences in 5-year OS and DSS between WL groups were analysed by Cox's regression with adjustments for important socio-demographic and tumour-related confounders.Results:Before radiotherapy, 70% of patients had no WL, 16% had ⩽5% WL, 9% had >5–10% WL, and 5% had >10% WL. Five-year OS and DSS rates for these groups were 71%, 59%, 47%, and 42% (P<0.001), and 86%, 86%, 81%, and 71%, respectively (P<0.001). After adjustment for potential confounders, >10% WL before radiotherapy remained significantly associated with a worse OS (HR 1.7; 95% CI 1.2–2.5; P=0.002) and DSS (HR 2.1; 95% CI 1.2–3.5; P=0.007).The 5-year OS and DSS rates for patients with critical WL during radiotherapy were 62% and 82%, compared with 70% and 89% for patients without critical WL (P=0.01; P=0.001). After adjustment, critical WL during radiotherapy remained significantly associated with a worse DSS (HR 1.7; 95% CI 1.2–2.4; P=0.004).Conclusion:Weight loss both before and during radiotherapy are important prognostic indicators for 5-year DSS in HNC patients. Randomised studies into the prognostic effect of nutritional intervention are needed.

Natural killer T (NKT) cells are CD1d-restricted lymphoid cells and are characterized by an invariant T-cell receptor, which in humans consists of a Va24 chain paired with a Vb11 chain. These cells are known for their rapid production of large amounts of cytokines (e.g., Vb11+ NKT cell numbers in both healthy controls and cancer patients and demonstrate that in both groups females have higher NKT cell levels compared to males. In a large group of 120 cancer patients, we show that circulating Va24+ NKT cell numbers are about 50% lower than in ageand gender-matched healthy controls and that this decrease is independent of tumor type or tumor load. This decrease was not restored upon tumor removal by means of surgery or radiotherapy. Even though the percentage of NKT cells that secrete IFN-g, as detected by ELISPOT, is normal in cancer patients, the absolute number of circulating IFN-g-secreting NKT cells is reduced. Together, our results suggest that the reduced circulating Va24 + Vb11+ NKT cell numbers in cancer patients are not affected by tumor load, but might actually reflect a risk factor for tumor development, e.g., by hampering efficient tumor immunosurveillance. ' 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Background.Low body mass index is a general measure of thinness. However, its measurement can be cumbersome in older persons and other simple anthropometric measures may be more strongly associated with mortality. Therefore, associations of low mid-upper arm circumference, calf circumference, and body mass index with mortality were examined in older persons.Methods.Data of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, a population-based cohort study in the Netherlands, were used. The present study included community-dwelling persons 65 years and older in 1992–1993 (n = 1,667), who were followed until 2007 for their vital status. Associations between anthropometric measures and 15-year mortality were examined by spline regression models and, below the nadir, Cox regression models, transforming all measures to sex-specific Z scores.Results.Mortality rates were 599 of 826 (73%) in men and 479 of 841 (57%) in women. Below the nadir, the hazard ratio of mortality per 1 standard deviation lower mid-upper arm circumference was 1.79 (95% confidence interval, 1.48–2.16) in men and 2.26 (1.71–3.00) in women. For calf circumference, the hazard ratio was 1.45 (1.22–1.71) in men and 1.30 (1.15–1.48) in women and for body mass index 1.38 (1.17–1.61) in men and 1.56 (1.10–2.21) in women. Excluding deaths within the first 3 years after baseline did not change these associations. Excluding those with a smoking history, obstructive lung disease, or cancer attenuated the associations of calf circumference (men) and body mass index (women).Conclusions.Based on the stronger association with mortality and given a more easy assessment in older persons, mid-upper arm circumference seems a more feasible and valid anthropometric measure of thinness than body mass index in older men and women.