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Does a neutropenic diet reduce adverse outcomes in patients undergoing chemotherapy?
Author(s) -
Heng Mei Shan,
Barbon Gauro Jessica,
Yaxley Alison,
Thomas Jolene
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of cancer care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1365-2354
pISSN - 0961-5423
DOI - 10.1111/ecc.13155
Subject(s) - medicine , febrile neutropenia , neutropenia , incidence (geometry) , chemotherapy , medical record , adverse effect , retrospective cohort study , pediatrics , physics , optics
Abstract Objective This study aimed to compare clinical outcomes of chemotherapy patients who received either a neutropenic diet (ND) or liberalised diet (LD) and to investigate associations between ND and infectious outcomes. Methods A retrospective case note audit of patients admitted to Flinders Medical Centre from 2013 to 2017 was conducted. Patients were eligible if they were aged 18 years and above, received chemotherapy and were neutropenic during admission. Demographic and clinical data were collected from medical records. Primary outcomes were occurrence of infections and fever. Secondary outcomes include hospital length of stay and infection‐related mortality. Results Seventy‐nine patients received ND while 75 patients received LD. The ND group had more patients with acute myeloid leukaemia ( p < .001) and receiving high‐toxicity chemotherapy ( p = .005). Incidence of febrile neutropenia ( p = .016), bacteraemia ( p = .044) and number of febrile days ( p = .033) was higher in the ND group. ND was not independently associated with occurrence of febrile neutropenia or infections. Subsample analysis of 20 pairs of patients matched on age, sex and cancer diagnosis found no significant differences in clinical outcomes between groups. Conclusion ND was not associated with the prevention of adverse outcomes in chemotherapy patients.