Nutritional Profile and Management of Pediatric Oncology Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital from Kashmir : Where do we Stand?

Abstract

Introduction: Malnutrition is an adverse prognostic factor in children with cancer and its prevalence is highly variable. The nutritional status of children with cancer has been found to have an impact on the tolerance to chemotherapy and overall survival. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at the department of Medical oncology, (SKIMS) sher-i-kashmir institute of medical sciences, Srinagar. Retrospective data of all new pediatric oncology patients <18 years of age treated from May 2018 to December 2019 was analyzed. Details on age, gender, diagnosis and anthropometry were collected from case records. Anthropometry records were collected within 24 to 48 hours of admission for every patient. Anthropometry includes weight, height, MUAC (mid upper arm circumference) and OFC (occipital frontal circumference)/ HC (head circumference) (up to the age of 3 years). Weight was measured daily while the patient is in hospital and during each outpatient visit and height was assessed after every month. Results: In this study 35.2% of children were diagnosed leukemia, 16.8% lymphoma and 48% solid tumors. A total no. of 125 pediatric patients were enrolled in the analysis. Data on weight for age were available for 125 patients at diagnosis. There were 83/125 (66.4%) male patients and 42/125 (33.6%) female patients. Majority of the patient’s belonged to the BPL (below poverty line). It was seen that 44/125(35.2%) were diagnosed leukemia, Lymphoma 21/125 (16.8%) and other solid tumors 60/125(48%).Conclusion: Nutrition assessment is important as childhood cancer survivors have been seen to have major issues related to nutrition. Both under nutrition and obesity can affect treatment outcome. Anticancer treatment in children is often very intense and may affect the nutritional status of children and therefore their physical and psychological development. Proper nutritional assessment is important for timely nutritional intervention and prevention of complications associated with malnutrition.