Table 1.

Summary of patient characteristics in addition to previously published data [3, 18]

	Nutritional status		p-value
	Normal (n = 46)	Poor (n = 14)
Age (years)	63 (±11.8)	64 (±10.1)	0.88a
Gender
Male	34 (73.9%)	9 (64.3%)	0.51b
Female	12 (26.1%)	5 (35.7%)
Presence of dysphagia during RT
≥ CTCAE grade III (n)	21 (45.7%)	4 (28.6%)	0.36b
Presence of dysphagia during 1st follow-up
≥ CTCAE grade III (n)	3 (6.5%)	2 (14.3%)	0.15b
Presence of dysphagia during 2nd follow-up
≥ CTCAE grade III (n)	4 (8.7%)	0	0.47b
Presence of nausea (at therapy completion)	8 (17.4%)	5 (35.7%)	0.27b
∆ BMI (kg/m2)	−1.2 (±1.5)	−0.4 (±1.3)	0.08a
∆ Phase angle (°)	−0.6 (±1.2)	0.5 (±1.2)	0.004a

For this analysis, complete patient data were available in 60 patients. Poor nutritional status/malnutrition at therapy completion was defined at a FFMI < 15 (♀) and < 17 (♂) kg/m². A mean (± standard deviation) is shown when data approximately follow a normal distribution. First follow-up took place 6–8 weeks after treatment completion. Second follow-up took place at least half a year after the first follow-up

∆ BMI (kg/m²) and ∆ Phase angle (°) denote the differences between the corresponding final value at therapy completion from the baseline value

RT radiotherapy; CTCAE Common Toxicity Criteria of Adverse Events; BMI body mass index; FFMI fat-free mass index

^aMann–Whitney U test

^bFisher’s exact test