It is unclear why the tailored adherence intervention was not efficacious in improving medication adherence. The findings suggest that these measures of medication adherence did not perform as expected and that, perhaps, they are not adequate measures of adherence. Effective and efficient adherence interventions are needed to address the barriers to medication adherence in HIV/AIDS.
Objective
Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are at elevated risk for nutrition-related morbidity both during and after therapy. We present the demographic characteristics and nutrient intake at study entry of a prospective cohort in which evaluating dietary intake in children diagnosed with ALL was investigated.
Methods
Dietary intake data were collected for participants enrolled on the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ALL Consortium Protocol. Dietary intake was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire and was compared with the dietary reference intake by ALL risk group (standard and high risk).
Results
Dietary intake data were collected from 81% of participants (n = 640). We found that 27% of participants were overweight/obese. Intake of total calories and other nutrients exceeded the dietary reference intake in up to 79% of children. This was evident in both risk groups and was pronounced among younger children. For micronutrients, dietary intake of calcium, vitamin D (females only), and zinc differed significantly between patients with standard-risk and those with high-risk ALL.
Conclusions
This study was successful in collecting dietary intake data at the time of cancer diagnosis in a multicenter setting in a pediatric population at high-risk for nutrition-related morbidity. We identified “at-risk” dietary intakes, which vary by sex and ALL risk group; such patients may benefit from future dietary interventions.
For children with newly diagnosed ALL, uniform antibiotic administration until blood count recovery, including fluoroquinolone prophylaxis for afebrile patients, reduced the incidence of bacteremia during the induction phase. Larger, randomized studies should be performed to confirm these findings.
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