Nutritional status of children and adolescents at diagnosis of hematological and solid malignancies

OBJECTIVE: To assess the nutritional status of child and adolescent patients with cancer at diagnosis. METHODS: A total of 1154 patients were included and divided into two groups: solid and hematological malignancies. The parameters used for nutritional assessment were weight, height, triceps skinfold thickness, mid-upper arm circumference, arm muscle circumference, body mass index and percentage weight loss. RESULTS: At diagnosis, below adequate body mass index was observed by anthropometric analysis in 10.85% of the patients – 12.2% in the solid tumor group and 9.52% in the hematologic group. The average weight loss adjusted for a period of 7 days was −2.82% in the hematologic group and −2.9% in the solid tumor group. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of malnutrition is higher among patients with malignancies than in the general population, even though no difference was observed between the two groups.