The impact of the preoperative hand grip strength on the long-term outcomes after gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer

Purpose The correlation of the hand grip strength (HGS) and long-term outcomes after gastrectomy for gastric cancer patients is unknown. This study reveals the impact of the pre-operative HGS on the post-operative survival in gastric cancer patients. Methods This study is a retrospective cohort of consecutive patients who underwent gastrectomy for primary p-T2 (MP) or more advanced gastric cancer from September 2014 to April 2018 with records of pre-operative HGS. The high and low HGS groups were compared by Kaplan-Meier survival analyses for the overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), other-cause survival (OCS), and disease-free survival (DFS). Results Of the 96 patients, 35 (36.5%) were in the low HGS group, and 61 (63.5%) were in the high HGS group. The OS was significantly worse in the low HGS group than in the high HGS group (P = 0.013). There was no marked difference in the CSS (P = 0.214) or DFS (P = 0.675) between the groups, but the OCS was worse in the low HGS group than in the high HGS group (P = 0.029). Multivariate analyses of the prognostic factors concluded that a low HGS (P = 0.031) and open surgery (P = 0.011) were significant independent factors. Conclusions A low pre-operative HGS is an independent predictor of a poor prognosis after gastrectomy for patients with advanced gastric cancer and may increase the risk of other causes of death.

Automated summary

The study found that gastric cancer patients with low pre-operative hand grip strength had worse overall survival and higher risk of other causes of death after gastrectomy, but no significant difference in cancer-specific survival and disease-free survival. Low hand grip strength and open surgery were identified as significant independent prognostic factors.