Impact of a pediatric oncology nutrition program: Lessons learnt over a decade

Background The management of malnutrition in children with cancer remains a challenge in low–middle‐income countries (LMICs). We describe our pediatric oncology nutrition program and its impact over the past decade. Methods We evaluated the impact of our nutrition program in accordance with the Inte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pediatric blood & cancer 2022-07, Vol.69 (7), p.e29728-n/a
Main Authors: Prasad, Maya, Moulik, Nirmalya Roy, Jatia, Shalini, Dhamne, Chetan, Parambil, Badira Cheriyalinkal, Chichra, Akanksha, Narula, Gaurav, Banavali, Shripad D., Chinnaswamy, Girish
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Children
Developing Countries
Diagnosis
Hematology
Humans
LDCs
Low‐middle income country
Malnutrition
Medical Oncology - education
Neoplasms - therapy
Nutrition
Nutrition Therapy
Nutritional Status
Oncology
pediatric oncology
Pediatrics
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Summary:Background The management of malnutrition in children with cancer remains a challenge in low–middle‐income countries (LMICs). We describe our pediatric oncology nutrition program and its impact over the past decade. Methods We evaluated the impact of our nutrition program in accordance with the International Society of Paediatric Oncology‐Paediatric Oncology in Developing Countries (SIOP PODC) Nutritional Program Evaluation in the areas of service delivery (number served, increments in delivery, number of trained care providers), patients at‐risk (proportion identified with malnutrition at diagnosis/follow‐up), and efficiency of nutritional interventions (proportion assessed, proportion achieved healthy weight, clinicians trained). We analyzed available data for trends between 2009 and 2020, and comparisons were made using the Fisher t test. This study was approved by our institutional ethics committee. Results From 2010 to 2020, 17 749 children treated at our center were beneficiaries of the nutritional program, including assessment and intervention. During this period, trained pediatric nutritionists increased from 2 to 8; SIOP PODC level from 2 to 3–4, and nutrition budget increased 15‐fold. At diagnosis (n = 5618) and six‐month follow‐up (n = 2674), 59.6% and 51.2% children were undernourished, 34.8% and 43% well nourished, and 4.7% and 5.7% overnourished. From 2016 onward, fewer children were undernourished at follow‐up—69.5% (2016), 60% (2018), 54% (2019), and 55% (2020, P 
ISSN:1545-5009
1545-5017
DOI:10.1002/pbc.29728