Symptoms and General Pathology

All Conditions

Neoplasms

Respiratory Tract (Lung and Bronchial) Diseases

Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Behaviors and Mental Disorders

Rare Diseases

Recurrence

Lung Neoplasms

Malnutrition

Carcinoma

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung

Small Cell Lung Carcinoma

Respiratory Tract Neoplasms

Thoracic Neoplasms

Lung Diseases

Respiratory Tract Diseases

Carcinoma, Bronchogenic

Bronchial Neoplasms

Quality of Life

Small Cell Lung Cancer

The oncology care team will provide participants with nutrition toolkit involving printed educational materials, a nutrition prescription, referral to registered dietitians (RDs) for remotely-delivered medical nutrition therapy counseling, and home-delivery of medically tailored meals.

The oncology care team will provide participants with a nutrition toolkit involving printed educational materials.

Medical oncology providers will refer participants to oncology RDs for remotely delivered medical nutrition therapy counseling. For cohort 1, participants will receive nutrition counseling for 8 months. The counseling will be provided on a weekly basis during the first 6 months and every other week during the last 2 months (for cohort 1 only). For cohort 2, participants will receive nutrition counseling for 6 months. The ultimate frequency of nutrition counseling being provided to each participant will also be adjusted according to the participant's preference and needs.

Nutritional Counseling

Medically tailored meals will be provided to participants in the intervention group for a total of 24 weeks for both cohorts. During the first 8 weeks of the intervention, 3 meals/day will be provided each week for a total of 168 meals per participant. It will be followed by less frequent meal provision during the subsequent 16 weeks following this schedule: 3 meals/day will be provided every other week for the next 8 weeks (a total of 84 meals per participant); and 3 meals/day will be provided every four weeks during the last 8 weeks (a total of 42 meals per participant). The number of meals provided to each participant may be adjusted according to participant's preference and needs.

Medically Tailored Meals (MTMs)

Oncology providers will advise participants with lung cancer to follow evidence-based nutrition recommendations using a Nutrition Prescription. The Nutrition Prescription aims to enhance providers' role in communicating basic nutrition advice to participants with lung cancer. It contains seven recommendations, adapted from the newly released Cancer Prevention Recommendations by WCRF/AICR with strong evidence-base.

Nutrition Prescription

Oncology care providers will assess the nutritional status of patients with lung cancer using PG-SGA Short Form (the Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment). PG-SGA is an interdisciplinary patient assessment in oncology and other chronic catabolic conditions. The short form contains four patient generated historical components (weight history, food intake symptoms, and activities and function).

Nutrition Assessment

Patients will receive a printed copy of a Nutrition Toolkit from providers. Evidence-based nutrition recommendations have been compiled for cancer survivors from 4 sources into a Nutrition Toolkit. The sources include: (1) AmericanCancer Society (ACS) Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines for Cancer Survivors; (2)World Cancer Research Fund / American Institute for Cancer Research (WFRF/AICR) Cancer Nutrition Guide; (3) National Cancer Institute (NCI) Eating Hints; and (4) National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines for Cancer Survivors. The Nutrition Toolkit outlines topics about the impact of cancer treatment on dietary intake patterns and quality, strategies to manage treatment-related eating issues, maintaining a healthy weight post treatment, and evidence-based recommendations and practical. Nutrition Toolkit strategies for improving diet quality and maintaining an optimal weight for cancer survivors.

Nutrition Toolkit

Monthly emails will be sent to participants to encourage the use of the toolkit with healthy recipes and general nutrition information.

Monthly Emails

FangFang Zhang, MD, PhD

Colleen Spees, PhD, MEd, RD, LD, FAND

The NutriCare study aims to develop, implement, and evaluate the efficacy of an innovative intervention strategy (medically tailored meals plus nutrition counseling) to integrate nutrition into the standard of care for oncology to improve outcomes of vulnerable patients with lung cancer. The NutriCare study evaluates the efficacy of the intervention on optimizing nutritional status, reducing treatment-related toxicities, and improving the quality of life of patients with lung cancer who are economically disadvantaged, uninsured, racial and ethnic minorities, elderly, and/or rural residents from four major medical centers in diverse regions of the United States (U.S.). There will be two cohorts for NutriCare with cohort 1 recruiting 150 patients completing an 8-month intervention and cohort 2 recruiting 120 patients completing a 6-month intervention.

For the proposed study, we will randomize participants into two groups at a 1:1 ratio to an intervention or an enhanced control group. For participants randomized to the enhanced control group, the NutriTool, the oncology care team will provide participants with a nutrition toolkit involving printed educational materials. For participants randomized to the intervention group, the NutriCare, the oncology care team will additionally provide participants with home-delivery of medically tailored meals and referral to registered dietitians (RDs) for remotely-delivered nutrition counseling.

NutriCare Plus a Medically Tailored Meal Intervention Among Patients With Lung Cancer

NutriCare Intervention on Optimizing Nutritional Status, Reducing Treatment-Related Toxicities, and Improving Quality of Life Among Vulnerable Patients With Lung Cancer

(a) participation; (b) retention; (c) compliance

Change in diet quality and intake of key food groups and nutrients as assessed by the National Cancer Institute Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ III)

Change in weight and percent weight loss as measured in the clinic

Change in food insecurity measured by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Household Food Security Survey

Change in patient-reported symptoms (fatigue, pain, nausea, vomiting, appetite loss, and sleep disturbance) as assessed by a Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the CTCAE (PRO-CTCAE)

Change in patient-reported functional outcomes (physical, social, and cognitive functioning) assessed by GAD-7

Change in patient-reported functional outcomes (physical, social, and cognitive functioning) assessed by PHQ-9

Change in quality of life as assessed by EORTC-QLQ-30

Change in quality of life as assessed by EORTC-QLQ-LC13

Rate of hospitalizations will assessed by medical record review and linkage with discharge data

Rate of ED visits assessed by medical record review and linkage with discharge data

Rate of treatment-related toxicities assessed by the treating medical oncologist using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE)

Treatment completion (dose reductions and treatment delays) assessed by the treating medical oncologist

Change in gut microbiome via metagenomic whole shotgun sequencing (mWGS)

National Death Index search performed approximately 5 years after the final patient is enrolled.

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for monthly emails