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Energy intake and basal metabolic rate during maintenance chemotherapy
S A Bond1, A M Han, S A Wootton
1Department of Human Nutrition, University of Southampton.
Insights
Children undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia or solid tumors showed normal energy intake and basal metabolic rates compared to healthy peers. This suggests no significant nutritional deficits during remission, though individual assessments are recommended.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Oncology
- Human Nutrition
- Metabolic Research
Background:
- Children undergoing chemotherapy require careful nutritional monitoring.
- Assessing energy balance is crucial for understanding treatment impact on pediatric patients.
- Remission phases may present unique metabolic challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare energy intake and basal metabolic rate (BMR) in children with cancer in remission versus healthy controls.
- To investigate potential undernutrition or altered energy expenditure during chemotherapy treatment.
- To evaluate the energy intake to BMR ratio in pediatric cancer patients.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 26 children in remission from acute lymphoblastic leukemia or solid tumors and 26 age/sex-matched healthy controls.
- Measured body weight, height, energy intake (kJ/day and kcal/day), and basal metabolic rate (BMR) (kJ/day and kcal/day).
- Analyzed anthropometric data, including height-for-age (stunting) and weight-for-height (wasting).
Main Results:
- No significant differences were found in mean energy intake or BMR between the patient and control groups.
- The energy intake:BMR ratio was comparable between groups (1.59), but the patient group exhibited a wider range of values.
- Anthropometric data indicated no group-wide undernutrition, although some individual patients showed signs of stunting or wasting.
Conclusions:
- Children in remission from cancer undergoing chemotherapy do not exhibit reduced energy intake or increased resting energy expenditure.
- The study found no evidence of undernutrition in the patient group as a whole during this phase.
- Individualized nutritional assessment is advised for pediatric cancer patients, despite group-level normal findings.
Abstract:
Energy intakes and basal metabolic rates were determined in 26 children receiving chemotherapy in remission from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia or solid tumours and 26 healthy controls matched for age and sex. Body weight and height on the two groups were comparable, although one patient was stunted (height for age) and three others wasted (weight for height). Energy intake in the patients at 7705 kJ/day (1842 kcal) and controls at 7773 kJ/day (1866 kcal)) and basal metabolic rate (BMR) in the patients at 4873 kJ/day (1172 kcal) and controls 4987 kJ/day (1196 kcal) for the two groups were not significantly different. Although the energy intake:BMR ratio for both groups was 1.59, the range of values for the patient group was large (0.96-2.73) and appeared to be greater than that observed in the control group (1.23-2.46). These results demonstrated that during this period of chemotherapy there was no evidence of raised energy expenditure at rest or reduced energy intake in the patient group. No indication of undernutrition in the patients as a group was evident, although some individuals might require further clinical nutritional assessment.