# Symptom Burden and Dietary Changes Among Older Adults with Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study
## 3 Results  
### Risk of Malnutrition--An Ongoing Problem  
Three hundred patients (136 female, 164 male) were included in this study. Hematological neoplasms were the most common diagnosis--187/300 patient cases (62.33%) versus 113/300 (37.67%) patients with solid tumors. Most patients with hematological neoplasms suffered from indolent (67/300, 22.33%) or aggressive lymphoma (45/300, 15%) and acute leukemia (39/300, 13.00%). Concerning solid tumors, lung cancer was the most common entity. A total of 25/300 (8.33%) patients received allogeneic, autologous stem cell therapy or CAR-T cell therapy. Further information on clinical baseline data is listed in Table 1. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Total [N]** & & **300** \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Sex**} & Female & 136 (45.33\%) \\  & Male & 164 (54.67\%) \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{**Age**} & Age cohort 65–74 years & 190 (63.33\%) \\  & Age cohort 75–84 years & 97 (32.33\%) \\  & Age cohort \(\geq\) 85 years & 13 (4.33\%) \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{**Entity**} & **Malignant hematology** & 187 (62.33\%) \\  & Lymphoma (aggressive) & 45 (15.00\%) \\  & Lymphoma (indolent) & 67 (22.33\%) \\  & Acute leukemia & 39 (13.00\%) \\  & Chronic leukemia & 6 (2.00\%) \\  & Myeloproliferative neoplasia & 6 (2.00\%) \\  & Myelodysplastic syndrome & 7 (2.33\%) \\  & **Solid Tumor** & 113 (37.67\%) \\  & Lung cancer (NSCLC) & 31 (10.33\%) \\  & Lung cancer (SCLC) & 12 (4.00\%) \\  & Breast cancer & 2 (0.67\%) \\  & Sarcoma & 9 (3.00\%) \\  & Lower gastrointestinal tract tumor & 6 (2.00\%) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Clinical characteristics. At the time of inclusion, 43/300 (14.3%) patients were recently diagnosed with cancer. The average BMI was 24.99 kg/m\({}^{2}\). There were no significant differences in the mean BMI between the age cohorts. A total of 239/300 (79.67%) of the hospitalized patients tested positive in the pre-screening using the NRS-2002, and a risk of malnutrition was confirmed in 209/300 (69.67%) in the main screening. Subgroup analysis was possible for the following groups: hematological neoplasm, solid tumors, aggressive lymphoma/acute leukemia, indolent lymphoma/chronic leukemia/MDS/MPN, lung cancer, and cellular immunotherapy. The malnutrition risk rates were as follows: 73.80% (138/187, hematological neoplasms), 62.83% (71/113, solid tumors), 73.81% (62/84, aggressive lymphoma/acute leukemia), 72.62% (61/84, indolent lymphoma/chronic leukemia/MDS/MPN), 61.36% (27/44, lung cancer), and 64.00% (16/25, cellular immunotherapy). Comparing different cancer entities, we observed a trend toward a higher risk for malnutrition in patients with hematological neoplasms (Table 2). Furthermore, patients suffering from SCLC or undergoing cellular immunotherapy have a significantly lower risk of malnutrition. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline
**Total [N]** & **300** \\ \hline  & Other gynecological cancers & 7 (2.33\%) \\  & Urooncological cancer & 10 (3.33\%) \\  & Other & 54 (18.00\%) \\ \hline  & **213** \\ \cline{2-3}
**Treatment modality [N]** & Systemic treatment & 140 (65.73\%) \\ \cline{2-3}  & Radiation therapy & 73 (34.27\%) \\ \hline
**Cellular immunotherapy** & Allogenic, autologous stem cell therapy + CAR-T-cell therapy & 25/300 (8.33\%) \\ \hline \end{tabular} CAR-T-cell therapy—chimeric antigen receptor-T-cell therapy; NSCLC—non-small cell lung cancer; SCLC—small-cell lung cancer.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: _Cont._