Abstract: Objective To describe the nutritional status of patients with head and neck cancer(HNC)before radiotherapy,and analyze their influencing factors. Methods The convenience sampling method was adopted to select HNC patients who were going to receive radiotherapy in the radiotherapy department of Peking University Cancer Hospital from March 2017 to June 2019. Data were collected the day before radiotherapy, including general information, nutritional screening and nutritional assessment. Nutritional Risking Screening 2002(NRS2002)was used as a nutritional screening tool, and the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition(GLIM)was used as a nutritional assessment tool. Body Composition Analyzer was used to measure body composition. Results A total of 661 HNC patients were included in the analysis, 28.7% of the patients had nutritional risk, and 26.8% had malnutrition. The main phenotypic criterion of malnutrition was non-intentional weight loss. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that patients aged ≥65 years or oral cancer and sinus tumors were more likely to have nutritional risk and malnutrition before radiotherapy(P<0.05). Conclusion Nearly 30% of HNC patients had nutritional risk and malnutrition before radiotherapy. Age and tumor location are risk factors for nutritional risk and malnutrition. In order to improve the prognosis of patients, medical personnel should pay attention to the nutritional status of HNC patients before radiotherapy, especially elderly patients and patients with oral and sino-nasal neoplasm.

Key words: head and neck cancer, radiotherapy, nutritional risk, malnutrition, aging, global leadership initiative on malnutrition