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Updated: Jun 12, 2026
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Published on: March 21, 2021
Body composition of children with cancer
Alexia J Murphy1, Melinda White, Peter S W Davies
1Discipline of Paediatrics, The University of Queensland Royal Children's Hospital, Queensland, Australia. alexia.murphy@uq.edu.au
Background:
Nutritional status, as represented by body composition, is an important consideration in the treatment of pediatric cancer patients because it is linked to poor outcomes. Little is known about how a child's body composition responds to cancer and treatment.
Objectives:
We aimed to compare the body composition of children undergoing treatment of cancer with that of healthy controls and to compare body composition between children with hematologic malignancies and children with solid tumors.
Design:
This cross-sectional study measured height, weight, body cell mass, fat-free mass, and fat mass in 48 children undergoing treatment of cancer and blood-related disorders and in age-matched healthy controls.
Results:
Patients with cancer had a significantly lower body cell mass index z score (body cell mass/height raised to the power of 2.5 for females and 3 for males) than did controls (P = 0.0001), and 45% of the patients with cancer were considered malnourished according to body cell mass. Subjects with cancer had a significantly higher percentage of body fat (P = 0.0001) and fat mass (P = 0.0001) than did controls; however, there was no significant difference in fat-free mass (P = 0.09). On the basis of percentage fat, 77% of subjects with cancer were considered obese. No difference in body composition was observed between cancer types.
Conclusions:
This study showed that children undergoing treatment of all types of cancer have a significantly lower body cell mass and a significantly higher fat mass than do healthy controls. Nutritional support is suggested for all children undergoing treatment of cancer.
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