The effects of treatment on nutrition in children with cancer

Abstract

Chemotherapy affects the diet and feeding habits of children with cancer. They experience side effects such as vomiting, diarrhea and constipation. Feeding disorders occur during treatment period of chronic illnesses such as during the chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to determine their feeding habits of the children with cancer. We applied a questionnaire concerning the feeding habits of 21 patients with cancer who received chemotherapy. The questionnaire included where, how, how often and how much children were fed. Nine (42.9%) female patients and 12 (57.1%) male patients participated in the survey. Six (28.6%) lymphomas, 5 (23.8%) sarcomas, 3 (14.3%) kidney tumors, 3 (14.3%) neuroblastomas, 2 (9.5%) brain tumors, 1 (4.8%) acute leukemia and 1 (4.8%) bone tumor were diagnosed. There was a positive statistically significant relationship between regular vegetable consumption and the measurement of body mass indexes (r=-0.601; p<0.05). Fast food consumption at least once a week was inversely correlated with the measurements of weight and height of the patients (r=0.683; p<0.05). Body mass index was found to decrease during the acute gastroenteritis periods (r=-0.470; p<0.05). There was a positive statistically significant relationship between constipation periods and the skinfold thickness measurements (r=0.714; p<0.05). Healthy feeding is especially important for every child in this patient group. Fast food consumption is one of the factors that negatively affects the health, which adversely affects the patients in the treatment process even more adversely. In the literature, there is no protocol established for the feeding of children with cancer and no guideline has been developed as a result of these studies. Our study is planned to determine this need and it might shed light on the literature with the results.