Nutritional status of adolescents with cystic fibrosis treated at a reference center in the southeast region of Brazil

BACKGROUND: Several factors can interfere with the full physical and emotional growth of adolescents, among them chronic diseases. The aim was to determine the nutritional status of adolescents and to associate it with puberty, pancreatic sufficiency, lung function and age range of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) diagnosis. METHODS: An observational, cross-sectional, retrospective and analytical study was conducted using the data of medical records. Setting: Reference center in the northeastern region of the state of São Paulo – Brazil. Patients: All adolescents with CF attended in 2010 were included. Some variables included: pancreatic sufficiency (steatocrit >2 %), pancreatic enzymes replacement (yes/no), pubertal status-Tanner criteria (prepubertal: M1/G1, pubertal: M2/G2 to M4/G4, postpubertal: M5/G5), age at CF diagnosis (<2 and ≥2 years of age), Lung function, measured as a predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1). Main outcome measures Nutritional indicators: body mass index for age (BMI/A) and height for age (H/A) with z-score calculated with Anthro Plus software. Cut-off reference points: ≥ z-score −3 and < z-score −2 (thinness); z-score −2 and ≤ z-score-z +1 (normal weight); >z-score +1 (overweight or obesity), and z-score <−2 (low or very low H/A). The groups were compared by the Kruskal-Wallis test. Level of significance: p < 0.05. RESULTS: Thirty adolescents. Median (min;max) age: 14.4 (10.1;19.8) years. BMI/A and H/A z-score, respectively: early diagnosis of CF (−0.8; −1.1) or late diagnosis of CF (−0.5;-0.8); with pancreatic insufficiency (−0.7; −0.8) or without pancreatic insufficiency (−0.8; −0.5) and prepubertal (−0.8; −0.7) pubertal (−0.2; −1.5) or postpubertal (−0.7; -0.5). No significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed. Patients with and without pancreatic insufficiency, presented H/A borderline z-score (p = 0.05). Association between H/A and FEV1 was borderline (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents presented adequate nutritional status, although with slightly lower values than those of developed countries. FEV1 lower levels occurred more frequently in adolescents with low H/A.