Background: Malnutrition increases worse outcomes during hospital admission for elective colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery in older adults. Methods: This work was designed an observational, monocentric, case-control study nested in a cohort of patients undergoing elective surgery for CRC disease at the Hospital Universitario de la Ribera (HULR) (Alzira, Valencia, Spain) between 2011 and 2019. The study considered patients with a CONUT score in the range of moderate to severe malnutrition (>4 points), with control patients with normal nutritional situations or mild malnutrition. Results: Moderate-to-severe malnutrition cases presented a greater length of stay (LOS), a higher incidence of adverse events (both medical and surgical complications), a higher incidence of surgical-wound infection, a greater need for blood transfusion, and a greater amount of transfused packed red blood cells. During hospitalization, the percentage of patients without nutritional risk decreased from 46 to 9%, and an increase in mild, moderate, and severe risk was observed. Patients with severe nutritional risk at hospital admission had significantly increased mortality at 365 days after discharge (HR: 2.96 (95% CI 1.14–7.70, p = 0.002)). After adjusting for sex, age, and Charlson index score, patients with severe nutritional risk at admission maintained a higher mortality risk (HR: 3.08 (95% CI 1.10–8.63, p = 0.032)). Conclusion: Malnutrition prevalence is high in older adults undergoing CRC elective surgery. Furthermore, this prevalence increases during hospital admission. Malnutrition is linked to worse outcomes, such as LOS, surgical and clinical complications, and mortality. For this reason, nutritional interventions are very important in the perioperative period

Background: The aim of this study was to determine whether the inclusion of older patients undergoing elective colorectal cancer resection in the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS^®) programme could improve clinical outcomes during hospital admission. Methods: A before-and-after study in ≥70-year-old patients electively admitted for colorectal cancer resection was designed. In total, 213 patients were included in the ERAS^® group, and 158 were included in the control group. Results: The average age was 77.9 years old (SD 5.31) and 57.14% of them were men, with a Charlson Index score of 3.42 (SD 3.32). The ERAS^® group presented a lower transfusion rate of 42 (19.7%), compared to 75 (47.5%) in the control group (p < 0.001). The crude odds ratio (OR) for transfusion was 0.27 (95% CI 0.17–0.43; p < 0.001), and the adjusted odds ratio was 0.26 (95% CI 0.14–0.48; p < 0.001). The ERAS^® group had a lower percentage of patients with moderate–severe malnutrition on admission, at 23.4% (37 patients) against 36.2% in the control group (42 patients) (p = 0.023), with an OR of 0.47 (95% CI 0.29–0.75; p < 0.002) and an adjusted OR of 0.48 (95% CI 0.29–0.78; p = 0.003). The number of patients who required admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) was also markedly lower: 54 from the ERAS^® group (25.4%) versus 71 from the control group (44.9%) (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The inclusion of ≥70-year-old adults in the ERAS^® programme resulted in a decrease in transfusions, number of erythrocyte concentrates transfused, and number of ICU admissions, along with improved nutritional status.