Objective To observe the longitudinal changes and influencing factors of skeletal muscle mass in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma during chemoradiotherapy. Methods A total of 192 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy were selected as the research subjects. The anthropometric indices (skeletal muscle mass index [SMI], body mass index, calf circumference) were measured before 1 day of radiotherapy, at mid⁃radiotherapy, and at the end of the last radiotherapy. The Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002) scale, Head and Neck Patient Symptom Checklist were used to evaluate patients' nutritional risk, nutrition impact symptom (NIS) intensity, and intensity of diet interference by each NIS. The influencing factors for skeletal muscle mass of patients during treatment were analyzed by using the generalized estimating equations. Results With the prolonging of treatment time, SMI, body mass index, and calf circumference of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma exhibited an overall downward trend, while the total score of NRS2002 scale, NIS intensity score and NIS diet interference intensity score expressed an overall increasing trend (P<0.05). The incidence rate of skeletal muscle mass loss in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma increased from 26.04% (50/192) before treatment to 62.50% (120/192) after the end of treatment. The results of generalized estimating equations revealed that treatment stage, gender, disease course, calf circumference, body mass index, total score of NRS2002 scale, and score of NIS diet interference intensity were the influencing factors for SMI in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (P<0.05). Conclusions Skeletal muscle mass of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma exhibits a downward trend with the prolonging of the time of chemoradiotherapy. Medical and nursing staff should pay attention to dynamic and comprehensive evaluation of skeletal muscle mass of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma during chemoradiotherapy, and pay attention to male patients, patients with high NIS diet interference intensity, and high nutritional risk. Continuous monitoring of calf circumference and body mass index can be used to evaluate the risk of skeletal muscle mass loss in patients.