Perioperative nutritional nursing interventions: Impact on wound healing, infection rates, and recovery indicators after gastric cancer surgery

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the study population

Variable	Intervention group (n = 80)	Control group (n = 80)	t/χ2 value	P value
Age (year)	62.5 ± 8.2	62.3 ± 8.0	0.23	0.73
Sex (male/female)	60/20	58/22	0.42	0.51
Tumor stage (I/II)	42/38	44/36	0.31	0.62
BMI (kg/m2)	22.5 ± 3.2	22.8 ± 3.5	0.56	0.58
Serum albumin (g/L)	38.5 ± 4.2	38.2 ± 4.5	0.44	0.66
NRS-2002 score ≥ 3, n (%)	45 (56.3)	42 (52.5)	0.23	0.63
Surgical approach (open/Laparoscopic)	45/35	48/32	0.23	0.63
Extent of resection (total/distal)	38/42	40/40	0.10	0.75

BMI: Body mass index; NRS-2002: Nutritional Risk Screening 2002.

Table 2 Comparison of wound healing time between the two groups, mean ± SD

Group	Wound healing time (day)	t value	P value
Intervention group	14.3 ± 3.5	5.87	< 0.001
Control group	18.6 ± 4.2	-	-

Table 3 Comparison of surgical-site infection incidence between the two groups

Group	SSI cases (n)	SSI incidence (%)	χ2 value	P value
Intervention group	7/80	8.7	4.12	0.042
Control group	12/80	15.0	-	-

Independent samples t-test was used for between-group comparison. SSI: Surgical site infection.

Table 4 Comparison of postoperative recovery indicators between the two groups

Recovery indicator	Intervention group (n = 80)	Control group (n = 80)	t/χ2 value	P value
Time to first ambulation (day)	2.1 ± 0.8	3.5 ± 1.2	5.67	< 0.001
Time to first flatus (day)	2.8 ± 0.9	4.2 ± 1.5	6.12	< 0.001
Time to nutritional target achievement (days)	4.5 ± 1.3	6.8 ± 2.1	7.45	< 0.001
Length of hospital stay (days)	10.5 ± 2.3	13.2 ± 3.1	6.01	< 0.001
Barthel Index ≥ 95 at 4 weeks	60/80 (75)	48/80 (60)	4.08	0.043

Values are expressed as mean ± SD or n (%). Between-group comparisons were performed using independent t-tests for continuous variables and χ² test for the categorical variable.