Importance of body composition in grading body mass index and weight loss-related nutritional risk in cancer patients

Rationale: A robust prognostic grading system incorporating the independent significance of both body mass index (BMI) and percentage of unintentional weight loss (%WL) over the preceding 6 months has been recently developed for cancer patients [1]. However, despite the growing interest in body composition as integral part of nutritional assessment, the independent prognostic significance of altered body composition (reduced muscle mass) next to BMI and WL has been scantily investigated.