An Evaluation of Factors Predicting Diet Quality among Cancer Patients

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 10; no. 8; p. 1019
• Main Authors: Kane, Kathleen, Ilic, Sanja, Paden, Holly, Lustberg, Maryam, Grenade, Cassandra, Bhatt, Aashish, Diaz, Dayssy, Beery, Anna, Hatsu, Irene
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 04.08.2018; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cancer; Demographics; Diet; diet quality; Diet Surveys; Endometrium; Female; Health care; Health risks; Healthcare Disparities; Healthy Diet; healthy eating index; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neck; Neoplasms - diagnosis; Neoplasms - mortality; Neoplasms - physiopathology; Neoplasms - therapy; Nutritional Status; Nutritive Value; Ohio - epidemiology; Patients; Prognosis; Protective Factors; Quality; Recommended Dietary Allowances; Risk Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Uterus; Variance analysis; cancer; diet quality; healthy eating index
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu10081019

A high diet quality is associated with a lower risk of cancer mortality. However, the predictive factors of diet quality among cancer patients are not well understood. This study determines the socio-demographic and disease-related factors that affect diet quality among cancer patients. Two hundred and forty-two cancer patients completed questionnaires assessing sociodemographic and disease-related characteristics. Diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI). Independent sample -tests and one-way ANOVA with post-hoc analysis using the Tukey HSD test were used to compare mean HEI scores across these characteristics. A regression model was used to determine factors that predicted diet quality. The overall HEI score among cancer patients was 61.59 (SD = 11.67). Patients with a high school degree or General Education Diploma (GED) or less had lower HEI scores ( = -4.03, = 0.04; = -7.77, = 0.001, respectively) compared to those with college degrees. Additionally, homemakers had significantly higher HEI scores ( = 7.95, = 0.008) compared to those who worked at least 40 hours per week. Also, individuals with some types of cancers (e.g., endometrial or uterine) had significantly higher HEI scores ( = 12.56, = 0.002) than those with other cancers (e.g., head and neck). Our findings will help oncology healthcare providers identify and target cancer patients with specific demographic characteristics who are at increased risk for consuming poor-quality diets with much needed food resource interventions.