Early mortality in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a developing country: the role of malnutrition at diagnosis. A multicenter cohort MIGICCL study

Abstract

The role of malnutrition at diagnosis as a predictor of early mortality in Mexican leukemia children remains controversial. The objective of present study was to investigate whether malnutrition was a predictor of early mortality during the first year of treatment in Mexican acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) children through the first population-based study. A total of 794 newly diagnosed ALL pediatric patients from public hospitals of Mexico City were enrolled. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model was constructed and adjusted by patient’s age at diagnosis, gender, hospital of treatment, and socioeconomic status. Early mortality was high (12.1%) and malnutrition by different indicators was not associated with mortality at induction phase and at 6th month; a high risk of dying (RR = 2.08; 95% CI: 1.08–4.01) was observed in the group of malnourished children with a high-risk ALL.

Keywords:

• Leukemia
• children
• mortality
• malnutrition
• prognosis

Acknowledgments

The funders have a role in the study design, in the collection, analysis, in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication. All researchers have an independence from funders.

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2016.1219904.