Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery and Department of Clinical Nutrition Beijing Shijitan Hospital Capital Medical University Key
Laboratory of Cancer FSMP for State Market Regulation Beijing 100038 China
Abstract：Nutrition impact symptoms NIS are a group of symptoms caused by the disease or its treatment and can affect a
patients nutritional status. These symptoms include pain dry mouth decreased appetite constipation satiety diarrhea oral ulcer
nausea vomiting odor changes taste changes and difficulty swallowing. Different symptoms have different effects on nutrition. The
number of symptoms that is symptom load is a more critical factor affecting nutritional status. Patient generated subjective global
assessment PG- SGA is the most commonly used scale to study NIS in cancer patients. The Head and Neck Patient Symptom
Checklist HNSC is a special tool for patients with head and neck cancer especially those receiving radiotherapy. The Edmonton
Symptom Assessment System ESAS is suitable for patients with benign and malignant diseases. The NIS is reflected by the
assessment scales and varies dramatically among diseases tumors stages individuals and medical treatments. Overall NIS is more
common in patients with malignant tumors patients with more advanced tumors male patients patients over 65 years old and patients
who underwent radiotherapy. A higher number or score of NIS indicates a worse prognosis for the patient. The management of NIS
including the management of the symptoms and nutrition requires efforts from a multidisciplinary team.
