Objective To observe the relation of phase angle (PA) measured by bioelectrical impedance method with nutritional status of patients with primary liver cancer, and to explore its influence on clinical outcomes.

Methods We collected 120 inpatients with primary liver cancer for nutritional risk screening, patient-generated subjective nutrition assessment(PG-SGA), anthropometry, biochemical examination and body composition analysis. According to the phase angle, the patients were divided into low PA group and normal PA group. The correlation between PA and nutrition-related indicators was analyzed. The survival and complications of the two groups were compared after 1-year follow-up.

Results There were 56.7% (68/120) of primary liver cancer patients with lower PA. TP, ALB, CHE, HB, AMC, GS, BCM, FFM and ASMI in low PA group were lower while ECW/TBW was higher than those in normal PA group (all P < 0.05). The correlation analysis showed that PA was negatively correlated with ECW/TBW (P < 0.05), but positively correlated with TP, ALB, CHE, HB, AMC, GS, BCM, FFM and ASMI (all P < 0.05). Low PA was significantly associated with nutritional risk, deterioration of liver function, progress of liver cancer staging and severe malnutrition (all P < 0.05). During the follow-up period, the mortality of the low PA group was higher than that of the normal PA group (P < 0.05). The risk of death in the low PA group increased by 2.738 times (OR=3.738, 95%CI: 1.465-9.535).

Conclusion Phase angle is an economic and effective index to reflect the nutritional status of patients with primary liver cancer, and closely related to the risk of death. Phase angle measurement is helpful for assessing nutritional status and predicting clinical outcome of patients with primary liver cancer.