Translation and validation of the patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment against the Mini-Nutritional Assessment for patients with gastric cancer

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to (1) translate the PG-SGA into Korean according to a translation guideline, (2) validate the translated version against the Mini-Nutritional Assessment, and (3) determine the prevalence of malnutrition in patients with gastric cancer.

Methods: The translation of the PG-SGA was based on the Guidelines for Translation by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Task Force for Translation and Cultural Adaptation Group. The translated version was validated in 226 patients with gastric cancer, using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis (AUC-ROC), measures of sensitivity, specificity, and the Youden index. The prevalence of malnutrition was analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: The AUC-ROC Korean version of the PG-SGA was 0.85, and a score of 12 was the most optimal cut-off score, with a sensitivity of 78.6% and a Youden index of 0.54. One-third of participants were malnourished, and 70% of them had more than one physical symptom affecting their food intake.

Conclusions: The Korean version of the PG-SGA is an effective and valid assessment tool for evaluating malnutrition in patients with gastric cancer. A new cut-off score could be used in patients with gastric cancer to assess malnutrition.