Nutritional Support in Lung Cancer Patients: The State of the Art

Abstract Lung cancer (LC) represents the most commonly diagnosed neoplasm worldwide for both sexes and is the leading cause of cancer mortality. Malnutrition is a comorbidity frequently found in neoplastic patients, but it remains often underestimated and thus undertreated. In this review we aim to investigate the incidence of malnutrition among LC patients according to different screening and assessment tools, to evaluate the impact of weight loss (WL) and body composition (BC) on survival, and, finally, to analyze the efficacy of different nutritional interventions in this setting. While malnutrition, WL, and BC changes can affect survival and other clinical outcomes in LC patients, the role of nutritional interventions is not yet strongly proven, and further studies are recommended. Nevertheless, screening, assessing, and eventually treating malnutrition in LC patients are strongly recommended, according to the most recent nutritional intervention guidelines for oncological patients.