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Nutritional support strategies in pediatric cancer patients in Mexico
Edna Astrid Nuño-Íñiguez, Katja Stein1, Miriam Raquel Caselin-García
1Universidad de Guadalajara, Instituto de Nutrición Humana, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud. Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
Insights
A flexible nutritional strategy, including patient-selected meals and snacks, improved energy intake for pediatric cancer patients in a low-budget Mexican hospital. This approach supports adequate nutrition despite financial constraints.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Oncology
- Clinical Nutrition
- Public Health
Context:
- Meeting nutritional needs of pediatric oncology patients in low-resource public hospitals presents significant challenges.
- Financial constraints in public healthcare systems impact the implementation of effective nutritional support.
Purpose:
- To evaluate a flexible nutritional strategy for pediatric cancer patients in a Mexican public hospital.
- The strategy is based on a 'complacency diet' approach, allowing patient choice and supplementary nutrition.
Summary:
- A cross-sectional study assessed 58 pediatric oncology patients (1-18 years).
- Nutritional status was evaluated, and dietary intake was recorded over 24 hours.
- 74.4% of patients had adequate nutritional status, with energy intake at 72.8% and protein intake at 168.3% of requirements.
Impact:
- The 'menu at request' strategy, supplemented with oral nutritional products and snacks, enhanced energy intake.
- This flexible approach offers convenience and improves nutritional support for hospitalized pediatric oncology patients.
- The findings suggest a feasible model for improving nutrition in resource-limited settings.
Background:
Meeting the nutritional needs of pediatric patients on oncology services in low budget public hospitals of Mexico is a continuous challenge, due to its financial resources.
Objective:
To evaluate the effectiveness of a nutritional strategy for children and adolescents with cancer in a public hospital of Mexico, based on a complacency diet.
Methods:
Across-sectional study included 58 children and adolescents (1-18 years old). An assessment of nutritional status was applied and a dietary diary was elaborated for 24 hours with the double weight method.
Results:
43 patients (74.4%) had an adequate nutritional status. The average energy intake was 72.8% and average protein intake 168.3% of the requirements. The hospital meals accounted for 67.5% of the energy intake, 28.5% resulted from snacks and 3.9% from oral nutritional supplements or polymeric smoothies.
Conclusion:
The nutritional strategy based on offering a menu at the request supported by smoothies or oral nutritional supplements and the permission to introduce snacks to the hospital offers convenience and flexibility for meal times and favors the energy intake in hospitalized pediatric oncology patients.
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