The Efficacy of Pharmacotherapy Intervention on Anthropometric Outcomes in Survivors of Childhood Brain Tumors: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
INTRODUCTION: Many survivors of childhood brain tumors face long-term adverse health outcomes like obesity. Uncertainties surround the effect of interventions to manage obesity-related outcomes in survivors of childhood brain tumors. The goal of this updated systematic review and meta-analysis was to provide the best estimate of the treatment efficacy of pharmacotherapy intervention on anthropometric outcomes in this pediatric population. METHODS: statistic. We used the GRADE approach to determine the certainty of evidence. RESULTS: = 0%; 4 studies, 94 participants; low certainty of evidence). Similar pooled effects were observed across other outcomes; however, individual studies reported significant changes in some outcomes within the treatment groups after the intervention. CONCLUSION: Pharmacological agents showed no significant change in anthropometric outcomes for survivors of childhood brain tumors. Further trials are needed to assess the efficacy of pharmacological agents and to identify subgroups most likely to benefit.
Authors
- Laura Banfield (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6123-1476)
- Marwa Akola
- Lawrence C. E. Mbuagbaw (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5855-5461)
- Russell J. de Souza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8945-513X)
- M. Constantine Samaan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6403-4715)
- Shahrad R. Rassekh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8005-2641)
- Sarah Burrow
- Adam J. Fleming
- David Hart
- Donna L. Johnston
- Joseph Beyene
- Lehana Thabane
Institutions
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Queen's University (CA)
- Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CA)
- McMaster Children's Hospital (CA)
- Population Health Research Institute (CA)
- Impact (CA)
- Ahfad University for Women (SD)
- St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (CA)
- Hamilton Health Sciences (CA)
- McMaster University (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Obesity Reviews
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.70126
- Primary Topic
- Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00