Cancer Cachexia Consensus Definition
Applies the international consensus definition and stages of cancer cachexia, after Fearon and colleagues 2011.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Weight loss over the past six months, percent of body weight
- 3 %
- Body mass index
- 19 kg/m2
Result: cachexia: 3 percent weight loss with a body mass index of 19
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Cachexia, route 1
- Weight loss above 5 percent over the past six months.
- Cachexia, routes 2 and 3
- A body mass index below 20 with weight loss above 2 percent, or sarcopenia with weight loss above 2 percent. Any one route is enough.
- Precachexia
- Weight loss of 5 percent or less with anorexia and metabolic change, in a patient who does not yet meet any route to cachexia.
- Refractory
- Active catabolism with a cancer not responsive to treatment, a WHO performance status of 3 or 4, and an expected survival under three months.
- The threshold moves
- Three percent lost at a body mass index of 19 meets the definition. The same three percent at 30 does not. The percentage alone never answers the question.
- Not reversible by feeding
- The consensus defines cachexia as not fully reversible by nutritional support. That is why the diagnosis matters rather than the weight itself.
What you enter
- Weight loss over the past six months, percent of body weight
- Body mass index (below 20 lowers the weight-loss threshold to 2 percent)
- Sarcopenia is present (also lowers the weight-loss threshold to 2 percent)
- Anorexia or metabolic change is present (the precachexia stage)
- The cancer is not responsive to treatment, with active catabolism
- WHO performance status 3 or 4
- Expected survival under three months
How this is calculated
Fearon K, Strasser F, Anker SD, et al. Definition and classification of cancer cachexia: an international consensus. Lancet Oncol. 2011;12(5):489-495. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.