In our study, we examined the alignment of the G8 Geriatric Screening Tool with the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) diagnostic criteria, as well as its effectiveness in identifying malnutrition among geriatric patients with malignancies.

In a cross-sectional study, geriatric patients newly diagnosed with malignancy, who had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG-PS) score of ≤ 1 and consented to participate, were included. The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) diagnostic criteria were employed to diagnose malnutrition. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the G8 tool, the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), and the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire in identifying malnutrition.

According to the GLIM diagnostic criteria, 79 (57%) of 138 patients had malnutrition. Muscle strength and muscle mass were significantly lower in patients with malnutrition (p = 0.022, p < 0.001, respectively). Scores of the MNA-SF, the MNA and the G8 tool area under the curve (AUC) in ROC curve analysis for malnutrition were 0.859, 0.804 and 0.829, respectively.

This study illustrates that the G8 tool is efficacious in screening for malnutrition prior to the application of the GLIM diagnostic criteria in geriatric oncology patients.