*2.2. Patient Population*

The methods of the trial have been previously published in detail [31,32]. In brief, for the current analysis, all patients with a cancer diagnosis (wither as the main diagnosis or a comorbidity, or both) from the original trial with available HGS measurements at the time of hospital admission were eligible. EFFORT enrolled consecutive adult patients with a Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) [43] total score ≥ 3 points, an expected length of hospital stay (LOS) ≥ 5 days and a willingness to provide informed consent. Patients initially admitted to a surgical unit or intensive care unit were excluded. Other exclusion criteria related to some diseases, including anorexia nervosa, acute pancreatitis, acute liver failure or cystic fibrosis, terminal condition, stem cell transplantation, history of gastric bypass surgery, contraindications for nutritional support, nutritional support at the time of admission and previous inclusion in the trial.
