The aim of this longitudinal study conducted in 150 patients with gastric cancer was to determine the independent effect of nutritional status on survival. Severe malnutrition was observed in 96 (64.0%) of the patients. The estimated mean survival times for patients with and without severe malnutrition were 35.8 (SE:4.1; 95%CI:27.8-43.7) months and 76.3 (SE:7.4; 95%CI:61.7-90.9) months, respectively ( P < .001). The risk of mortality was higher in patients with malnutrition (HR:2.2; 95%CI:1.4