Nutritional Status and Growth Deficit in Children and Adolescents with Cancer at Different Moments of Treatment

Abstract

Background

Nutrition deficits are common in children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment and can contribute to a worse prognosis. There are scarce studies regarding this context considering different moments of treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between moment of treatment and nutritional status in children and adolescents with cancer.

Methods

A retrospective study was performed from January 2013 to December 2015, including data from all clinical records of patients under 18 years old with cancer. Clinical, nutritional support and anthropometric data were collected at four moments of treatment from cancer diagnosis: diagnosis (t₀), 3 mo, (t₁), 6 mo, (t₂) and 1 year (t₃). In addition, nutritional indicators were evaluated. Generalized Estimating Equation models were performed to analyze changes on anthropometric indices throughout four moments of treatment.

Results

The sample comprised 73 patients and frequency of nutritional deficits ranged from 13.0% to 18.6%. All nutritional indicators decreased at t₁, showed a modest recovery at t₂ and a stronger recovery at t₃ (p < 0.001). Growth was also impacted during treatment, mainly on patients under 2 years in the first three months of treatment.

Conclusions

Moment of treatment was associated with growth deficit and decreased percentiles in development indicators.

Acknowledgments

D.S.A. received Multiprofessional Residency in Health fellowship by Ministry of Education of Brazil (Ministerio da Eduação - MEC) and N.C.S received a master's degree fellowship by Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: D.S.A., D.T.A., and G.G.P; methodology: D.S.A., D.T.A, N.C.S., and G.G.P; formal analysis: D.S.A., N.C.S, C.M.O, A.B.C.N.A., and G.G.P; investigation D.S.A., and D.T.A.; data curation: D.S.A., N.C.S., and G.G.P; writing—original draft preparation: D.S.A., N.C.S, A.E.M.R., and G.G.P; writing—review and editing: D.S.A., N.C.S, A.E.M.R., and G.G.P.