Changes in Albumin Level and Cachexia Parameters Over Time and Their Effect on Survival in Patients Who Received Chemotherapy

Background: Cachexia is an irreversible multifactorial process. One of the 
most important indicators of nutritional status and a prognostic biomarker in 
cancer cachectic patients is serum albumin level, its reduction is associated with 
poor prognosis, we aimed to see effect of improvement over time in albumin on 
survival and the most independent factors for survival with the contributions of 
different clinic pathologic parameters to different cachexia parameters.
Methods: a prospective observational single center study. 125 patients were 
enrolled after their diagnosis as cachectic patients. We collected demographic 
data, type of nutritional support, anthropometric measures and laboratory data 
are collected every 3 months for 1 year.
Results: There was significant improvement of total protein and albumin and no 
significant improvement of body mass index across different time points of 
measurements despite increasing the percentages of patients attaining normal 
BMI. Surviving patients completing one year expressed significant 
improvement of oral intake. The mean OS was 6.4 months, and the median OS 
was 5 months. OS was positively correlated with serum albumin level. Only 
age, BMI, NLR, and PLR had significant effect on OS.
Conclusion: Improvement of albumin with progression of time in patients who 
received their anticancer treatment had significant positive effect on overall 
survival of cancer cachectic patients.