Personalized nutrition intervention improves nutritional status and quality of life of colorectal cancer survivors in the community: A randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of personalized nutrition intervention combined with telephone-based education on the nutritional status of colorectal cancer survivors and their quality of life.

Methods: In this randomized, parallel-controlled trial, 60 colorectal cancer survivors who met the eligibility criteria were recruited from a community in Shanghai and randomly assigned 1:1 into nutrition intervention and routine care groups. The routine care group received a follow up by telephoneafter 6 months. The nutrition intervention group received personalized nutritional interventions and telephone-based education through the WeChat app for 6 mo. Nutrition status, dietary intake, and quality of life were measured and compared between the groups.

Results: Of the enrolled participants, 56 participants were included in the modified intent-to-treat analysis for comparison. After the 6-mo intervention, the nutrition group had a statistically lower patient-generated subjective global assessment score and higher energy and protein intake compared with the routine care group. Moreover, the nutrition intervention group gained more weight (2.00 kg; 95% confidence interval, 0.25-3.00) than the routine care group (0.00 kg; 95% confidence interval, -1.75 to 0.00). Meanwhile, compared with the routine care group, the nutrition intervention group had significantly higher global health status, as well as physical, role, emotional, cognitive, and social functioning (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Personalized nutrition interventions, combined with telephone-based education, provided by community health service centers can improve colorectal cancer survivors' nutritional status and quality of life. Personalized nutrition intervention for cancer survivors warrants further investigation in confirmatory studies.