Longitudinal assessment of nutritional status in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in Cuba

Physical activity of pediatric patients with acute leukemia undergoing induction or consolidation chemotherapy

“…Similarly, observations on triceps skinfold thickness concurred with studies abroad whereby the mentioned index among patients with acute leukaemia not only differed significantly compared to healthy, normal children [7,19], but were also found to increase significantly post-induction chemotherapy [20]. On the other hand, there were studies which have observed no significant changes in the measurements of MUAC or triceps skinfold thickness among leukemia patients [21][22][23].…”

Longitudinal nutritional assessment in acute lymphoblastic leukemia during treatment

“…did not find any increase of undernutrition as a group evaluated according to weight for height and resting energy expenditure . This result was consistent with the Cuban study in 62 patients with ALL as judged on several variables (height, weight, skin fold and BMI‐z score) . These studies, however, investigated patient nutritional status during a limited part of their chemotherapy regimen.…”

“…In a study using 78 patients with ALL in Mexico, DEXA identified decreased bone density in 16 patients (20.5%) based on the reference value for age and sex, whereas 19 patients had higher bone density . Several investigators, however, have warned that, if other methods including measurement of mid‐upper arm circumference and triceps skin fold thickness or prealbumin were used, more undernourished patients would be detected …”

“…27 Several investigators, however, have warned that, if other methods including measurement of midupper arm circumference and triceps skin fold thickness or prealbumin were used, more undernourished patients would be detected. 19,28 There have been a limited number of longitudinal studies of nutritional assessment during chemotherapy. In the earlier study using 15 ALL pediatric patients, Delbecque-Boussard et al did not find any increase of undernutrition as a group evaluated according to weight for height and resting energy expenditure.…”

“…25 This result was consistent with the Cuban study in 62 patients with ALL as judged on several variables (height, weight, skin fold and BMI-z score). 28 These studies, however, investigated patient nutritional status during a limited part of their chemotherapy regimen. In contrast, the present study investigated nutritional data in all patients throughout chemotherapy, and confirmed that the distribution of undernutrition and overnutrition was constant as a whole, although substantial changes were observed individually.…”