Selection of Studies
Trials were included if they were undertaken in adults with cancer (all sites and stages) who were clearly malnourished or judged to be at risk of malnutrition on the basis of their clinical condition,
receiving active treatments or palliative care, and were comparing oral nutritional interventions with usual care. For the purposes of study selection, it was assumed that cancer patients receiving active or palliative treatments could be judged to be at risk of malnutrition. Oral nutritional intervention could consist of: 1) dietary advice, 2) oral nutritional supplements, or 3) dietary advice and oral nutritional supplements given together.
Dietary advice was defined as instruction to modify food intake given with the aim of improving nutritional intake. Oral nutritional supplements were defined as food products that were marketed for the management of disease-related malnutrition. Trials were eligible for inclusion if they were RCTs or quasi-RCTs (ie, trials that describe the method of assignment and group allocation but use methods that are not strictly random, such as alternation or date of birth). Trials were excluded if they did not meet these criteria. The principal reasons for exclusion of trials were that they were not RCTs, that the nutritional intervention and comparisons did not meet the inclusion criteria, or that they were conducted in children.