Nutritional profile of pediatric cancer patients at Cancer Institute, Chennai.
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Date
2015-04
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is widely prevalent in the pediatric population in India. There is paucity of data on the prevalence of malnutrition in
pediatric cancer patients and the impact of cancer treatment on nutritional status of Indian children. AIMS: The study was conducted to look at the
prevalence of malnutrition and assess the impact of treatment on nutritional status of pediatric cancer patients. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was
a retrospective study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data on the weight of pediatric cancer patients <16 years of age treated at Cancer Institute,
Chennai, from January 2013 to May 2014 were analyzed at systematic time points in therapy. Patients’ weight were plotted on the Centre for
Disease Control (CDC) growth charts. Patients were defined to be undernourished if their weight for age was ≤3rd centile in CDC growth charts
and obese if their weight for age was ≥97th centile on CDC growth charts. RESULTS: A total of 295 patient case records were analyzed. Acute
lymphoblastic leukemia was the most common malignancy. At diagnosis, under‑nutrition was seen in 44% patients, this increased to 46% midway
during treatment (end of induction in acute leukemia and completion of 50% of planned treatment in solid tumors) and decreased to 27% at the
end of treatment (beginning of maintenance in acute leukemia and completion of planned treatment in solid tumors) (P = 0.0005). There was no
significant difference in nutritional status between patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumors (P = 0.8). CONCLUSION: Under‑nutrition
is present in close to half of the pediatric cancer patients presenting to our institute. Active nutritional intervention and education were able to
significantly reduce the prevalence of under‑nutrition in patients at the end of treatment.
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Keywords
Cancer stem cells, growth charts, nutrition
Citation
Radhakrishnan V, Ganesan P, Rajendranath R, Ganesan T S, Sagar T G. Nutritional profile of pediatric cancer patients at Cancer Institute, Chennai. Indian Journal of Cancer. 2015 Apr-June; 52(2): 207-209.