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- Amanda Drury (Dublin, Ireland)
EONS focus on cancer prevention
- Lena Sharp (Stockholm, Sweden)
Physical activity and cancer
- Marianne Himberg (Turku, Finland)
Prevention and early detection for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndromes
- Emily O'Donovan (Dublin, Ireland)
CN12 - Impact of diet on immune checkpoint blockade: Nurse-directed dietary intervention
- Julie Malo (Montreal, Canada)
Abstract
Background
Gut microbiota modulates the response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in various cancers, and diet represents the most natural and non-evasive method to shift its composition. A recent study suggests that a high dietary fiber intake may improve progression-free survival (PFS) of melanoma patients treated with ICB. However, the impact of diet on patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been yet investigated. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of diet, including fiber intake, in patients with NSCLC amenable to ICB.
Methods
Our research nurse assessed the dietary habits of 102 patients with advanced NSCLC treated with ICB using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) on dietary habits and probiotics supplementation (approved by the ethics committee). Upon consent of each participant, answers to 47 questions included in the FFQ were recorded, analysed using a calculation tool to estimate 30 different nutrients and correlated with PFS.
Results
A total of 102 patients (49% men) completed the dietary survey with a median age of 67 years and a median follow-up of 18.6 months. In contrast to melanoma, a high fiber diet did not correlate with an improved PFS (median PFS: low fiber=16.0 months versus high fiber=9.8 months, p=0.42) in patients with NSCLC. Of note, the group median fiber intake was 11g/day compared to 20g/day in the melanoma study. Conversely, saturated fatty acids (SFA) dietary intake correlated with a favorable outcome in advanced NSCLC patients (median PFS: low SFA=9.1 months versus high SFA=17.4 months, p=0.03). The sources of SFA were mostly from dairy products.
Conclusions
In our study, NSCLC patients had a very low fiber diet that could explain the absence of survival benefit. However, SFA intake correlated with longer PFS. With the emergence of the gut microbiota in the immuno-oncology arena, providing evidence-based dietary recommendations and educational tools for nurses represents an important strategy to potentially increase ICB efficacy.
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
CN13 - Nutriscore: Nutritional screening in colorectal cancer patients previous to cancer-specific treatment
- Raquel M. Legido-Diaz (Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain)
Abstract
Background
NUTRISCORE is a nutritional screening tool validated in cancer patients (pts) in the outpatient setting, that stands out for its sensitivity, specificity and simplicity. Our objective was to evaluate the value of the implementation of the NUTRISCORE done by the oncology nursing team in ambulatory clinic for patients with recently diagnosed colorectal cancer.
Methods
All pts who attended the first oncology nursing visit of the colorectal cancer functional unit between April and November 2021 were prospectively included. The NUTRISCORE was calculated in the initial assessment. Those pts with a score ≥ 5 were referred to the clinical nutrition functional unit (CNFU) for a more comprehensive nutritional assessment.
Results
92 pts were registered (70.6% men, 29.3% women) and the mean age was 68.61 years. Nineteen pts (20.6%) were referred to CNFU, of which in 57.8% (n=11) the NUTRISCORE score obtained was ≥5. The other 8 pts with NUTRISCORE <5 were referred based on nursing clinical criteria. Of these, 1 patient (pt) was referred due to the high risk of intestinal obstruction, 3 pts needed to start nutritional supplementation for severe malnutrition at the CNFU visit, 1 pt started nutritional support in anticipation of potential gastrointestinal toxicity secondary to treatment, another pt just needed dietary recommendations for moderate malnutrition and 2 pts did not attend to the CNFU visit.
Conclusions
Nursing clinical criteria together with NUTRISCORE, allow us to more effectively detect newly diagnosed colorectal cancer pts at-risk for malnutrition and anticipate their nutritional needs before starting cancer-specific treatment.
Legal entity responsible for the study
R.M. Legido-Diaz and L. Raventos.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
CN15 - Individual factors leading to delay in diagnosis in patients with colorectal cancer and their illness perceptions
- Ümran Ege Tanrıkulu (Ankara, Turkey)
Abstract
Background
The purpose of this study was to determine the time elapsed between the first symptoms and seeking medical help, factors contributing to the delay and disease perception in patients with colorectal cancer.
Methods
The study was conducted at the medical oncology outpatient clinic of a University Hospital in Ankara and included 114 patients who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The data were obtained by using the questionnaire form and the brief illness perception questionnaire. The elapsed time between patients’ first symptoms and seeking medical health was classified into ‘‘normal’’ when it was less than one month, ‘‘delay’’ when it was between one and three months, ‘‘long-term delay’’ when it was more than three months, and ‘‘very serious delay’’ when it was more than six months. In the analysis of the data, chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance and correlation tests were used.
Results
The mean elapsed time between patients’ first symptoms and seeking medical health was 7.27±11.02 month (range: 1 - 62.5 month), 60.6% of patients were delayed over a month and there is a serious delay in 31.6% of them. Most of the patients (76.3%) stated that they did not know the signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer and 16.7% stated that they had a screening test. It was determined that 89.9% of patients experienced symptoms and signs before colorectal cancer diagnosis. The most common complaints were changes in bowel habits (20.3%), rectal bleeding (14.1%) and abdominal pain (10.3%). When the factors contributing to the delay were evaluated, 60% of them did not stated any reason, 17% stated perceiving the symptoms as temporary or insignificant. A significant relationship was found between the delay in diagnosis and level of education and the change in bowel habit (p<0.05). The mean score of brief illness perception was found to be 21.74 ± 11.36 (range: 0- 56). The three most important factors that they believed to cause illness were stress (32.8%), nutrition (24.9%) and sadness (13.6%).
Conclusions
Although the individuals participating in the study have symptoms that may be a symptom of colorectal cancer; there was considerable delay in the time to seeking medical help due to lack of awareness about the symptoms of colorectal cancer.
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
CN14 - Cancer prevention awareness among Croatian AYA population
- Nikolina Dodlek (Osijek, Croatia)
Abstract
Background
Malignant diseases are one of the leading public health problems. Yearly in Europe, more then 35000 children and young people suffer from malignant diseases, and about 6 thousand lose their life. There is increased need of raising awerness and making an impact, especially for young people, about attitudes in cancer prevention and screening, where nurses are most often the first point of contact and have a key role. The aim of this study was to examine the attitudes and knowledge of young people aged 18-32 in Croatia about cancer prevention.
Methods
This cross-sectional study was conducted via online research-designed survey that participants have taken after electronic consent was admitted to participate in the study. This study is conducted from February to April 2022. Survey contained 21 question, divided in four categories: sociodemographic data, knowledge of cancer incidence, prevention procedures and questions about prevention self-examination separately for male and female respondents.
Results
There were total of 192 respondents, age range 18-32. 16,1% respondents are still in high school, 36,5% has completed higher education. 71,9% respondents has undergone education about cancer prevention during high school, 21,9% in elementary school. 65% respondents is not doing self-examination on a monthley bases despite that 79,5% of them is educated how to do it. 45% of male respondents are doing self-examination of testicles, 77,1% of female respondents is going to annual cervical cancer screening test to their doctors. 62% of respondents is NOT familiar wether their friends are doing self-examination. 80,7% knows a person diagnosed with cancer, but more than half of the respondents stated that information did not affect the frequency of their self-examination.
Conclusions
Study findings are of great importance for raising awareness and impacting attitudes among young adult population in Croatia. Despite undergone education during their elementary or high school programmes, there is increased need in self-examination and preventional cancer screening programmes responses. More than half of the respondents stated that they don't know about their friends self-examination, which means that they are still embarrassed to talk about it.
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.