[Risk of malnutrition and food insecurity in pediatric cancer patients. The NutriCare Study]

Introduction: cancer and its treatments have been associated with poor nutritional status in children and adolescents. Objective: to establish the nutritional risk of pediatric patients and the degree of food and nutritional insecurity in the homes of children and adolescents with cancer who have been hospitalized in a high complexity pediatric oncology center. Methods: a prospective observational study conducted at the Fundación Hospital Pediátrico la Misericordia - HOMI. It included a sample of 41 children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 years and 11 months with a diagnosis of childhood cancer during the study period. The participants recruited during hospitalization had the application of the SCAN nutritional screening tool for childhood cancer, Spanish version, validated in HOMI and the Latin American and Caribbean Scale of Food and Nutritional Security - ELCSA, adapted and validated in Colombia. Results: 76 % (n = 31) of the patients were classified as "At risk of malnutrition" using the SCAN-SP nutritional screening tool. It was observed that 56 % of all households had a proportion of food insecurity, of which the classification of food insecurity was mild in 29 %, moderate in 20 % and severe in 7 % of households with children under 18 years of age. Conclusion: in the framework of the nutritional care process, it is important to take into account factors that include a complete nutritional risk assessment and evaluation that includes the measurement of food security.