Open AccessThe role of nutrition in children with cancer
Author(s) -
Serena Ilaria Tripodi,
Elena Bergami,
Arianna Panigari,
Valentina Caissutti,
Carlotta Brovia,
Marica De Cicco,
E. Cereda,
Riccardo Caccialanza,
Marco Zecca
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
tumori
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.453
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 2038-2529
pISSN - 0300-8916
DOI - 10.1177/03008916221084740
Subject(s) - overnutrition , malnutrition , medicine , context (archaeology) , parenteral nutrition , intensive care medicine , psychological intervention , quality of life (healthcare) , cancer , clinical nutrition , population , nutrition disorders , gerontology , environmental health , nursing , paleontology , research methodology , biology
In recent years, the influence of nutrition on the health and growth of children has become increasingly important. The relevance of nutrition is even greater for children who are facing cancer. Malnutrition, within the context of undernutrition and overnutrition, may impact not only the effectiveness of treatments and outcomes, but also the quality of life for patients and their families. In this article, we review nutritional assessment methods for children with cancer, focusing on the specific characteristics of this population and analyze the efficacy of nutritional interventions, which include enteral, parenteral, and nutritional education. From our analysis, two important conclusions emerged: i) there is a need to focus our attention on the nutritional status and the body composition of oncologic children, since these factors have a relevant impact on clinical outcomes during treatment as well as after their conclusion; ii) the support of skilled clinical nutrition personnel would be extremely helpful for the global management of these patients.