Adherence to Oral Nutritional Support and Its Effect on Nutritional Status in Pediatric Oncology Patients
Children with cancer frequently suffer from malnutrition caused by their disease and treatments. This study examines the rates of malnutrition, compliance with nutritional therapy, and its impact on nutritional status in pediatric cancer patients. This multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted between 2021 and 2023 at 12 pediatric hematology and oncology clinics. This study included 385 patients (aged 0.3-18 years) with leukemia-lymphoma and solid tumors that are currently on or had newly started oral nutritional supplement (ONS) treatment. Anthropometric measurements, mid-upper-arm-circumference (MUAC), body mass index (BMI), weight-for-age (WFA), were collected, and malnutrition risk was evaluated by the nutrition screening tool for childhood cancer (SCAN). Baseline WFA-based malnutrition was 31.0%, increasing to 38.5%, while SCAN≥3 was 83.8% decreasing to 72.4% at the sixth month. Malnutrition risk was more common in sarcoma and central nervous system tumor patients. ONS adherence decreased across all cancer types during the follow-up period. Adherent patients demonstrated higher BMI scores during the study period and MUAC <i>z</i>-scores in the last 2 months compared to the non-adherent group (<i>P</i> < 0.04). Our study demonstrates that the use of validated nutrition screening tools, together with adherence strategies, can lead to increased weight-for-age and lower malnutrition risk screening scores.
Authors
- Bengü Demirağ
- Burcu Tufan
- Burçak Kurucu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3474-5070)
- Emre Özkan
- Derya Özyörük (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9615-6522)
- Rejin Kebudi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4344-8174)
- Ali Varan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4911-1476)
- Zuhal Siviş
- Uğur Demırsoy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5424-7215)
- İlhan İnci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3937-7705)
- Derya Hopancı Bıçaklı (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1594-3266)
- Sema Vural
- Ayşe Özkan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1181-8169)
- Sema Büyükkapu Bay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2539-4662)
- Sonay İncesoy Özdemir (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2863-901X)
- Mehmet Kantar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1669-4321)
- Fatih Özdener (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0163-318X)
- Nurşah Eker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7707-3035)
- Çağrı Coşkun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9725-8355)
- Alihan Sürsal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8073-3033)
- Deniz Kızmazoğlu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3349-7140)
- İbrahim Bayram (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0330-4766)
- Eda Ataseven (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3419-5814)
- Şule Yeşil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2328-8612)
- Nurdan Taçyıldız
- Bahar Beker
Institutions
- Bahçeşehir University (TR)
- Izmir University (TR)
- Ankara University (TR)
- Bilkent University (TR)
- Ege University (TR)
- Dr. Behçet Uz Çocuk Hastalıkları Hastanesi (TR)
- Memorial Ankara Hospital (TR)
- Başkent University Hospital (TR)
- Etlik Zübeyde Hanım Kadın Hastalıkları Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR)
- Şişli Etfal Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR)
- Nutricia Research (Netherlands) (NL)
- Kocaeli Üniversitesi (TR)
- Cukurova University (TR)
- Hacettepe University (TR)
- Istanbul University (TR)
- Marmara University (TR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nutrition and Cancer
- Published
- 2025-12-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01635581.2025.2584473
- Primary Topic
- Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00