ABSTRACT
No standardized approach towards nutritional screening and assessment of pediatric oncology patients has been established. The nutrition screening tool for childhood cancer (SCAN) has been previously published as an effective screening method. This is an observational cross-sectional study to assess the validity and reliability of the SCAN tool, compare it to the detection of undernutrition using standard measures of assessment, and determine the overall prevalence of malnutrition and micronutrients alterations in our cohort. We included children newly diagnosed with cancer in a pediatric tertiary hospital in Madrid, Spain from August 2018 to May 2019. The following measurements were performed: SCAN questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, nutritional markers in blood, and micronutrient levels. A total of 49 patients were included. 22 patients (45%) were at risk of malnutrition according to the SCAN questionnaire. Four patients (8%) could be diagnosed with moderate undernutrition. These undernourished patients were distributed homogeneously among at-risk and not at-risk populations identified by the SCAN tool. Several micronutrient deficiencies were identified. We conclude that the SCAN questionnaire is an easy-to-use tool for everyday clinical practice. By not including anthropometric measurements it misses patients considered to be malnourished. Future data might help clarify if it is an effective tool in predicting a higher nutritional risk during the entire treatment course.
Subject(s)
Malnutrition , Neoplasms , Child , Cross-Sectional Studies , Early Detection of Cancer , Humans , Malnutrition/diagnosis , Malnutrition/epidemiology , Malnutrition/etiology , Micronutrients , Neoplasms/complications , Nutrition Assessment , Nutritional Status , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
Multicenter study conducted in 15 hospitals including 101 COVID-19 pediatric inpatients aiming to describe associated gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations. GI symptoms were present in 57% and were the first manifestation in 14%. Adjusted by confounding factors, those with GI symptoms had higher risk of pediatric intensive care unit admission. GI symptoms are predictive of severity in COVID-19 children admitted to hospitals.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/complications , COVID-19/epidemiology , Gastrointestinal Diseases/epidemiology , Gastrointestinal Diseases/etiology , Intensive Care, Neonatal , Patient Admission , COVID-19/virology , Child , Child, Preschool , Comorbidity , Female , Humans , Infant , Intensive Care Units, Pediatric , Intensive Care, Neonatal/methods , Intensive Care, Neonatal/statistics & numerical data , Male , Spain/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Hyperammonemic encephalopathy is a rare but potentially dangerous complication of the antiepileptic drug (AED) sodium valproate (VPA). We report a retrospective study of 25 pediatric patients, (15 females [60%]; age: 7.6 ± 4.9 years), with different underlying disorders, who suffered from hyperammonemia due to VPA and who were treated with carglumic acid (CA). The duration of treatment with VPA was 15 ± 1 month, with a dose of 40 ± 16.6 mg/kg/d. VPA blood levels were 75.5 ± 60 mg/L with seven patients being overdosed (>100 mg/L). Twenty-three patients received concomitant treatment with other AEDs. The initial dose of CA was 100 mg/kg. Subsequently, CA doses of 25 mg/kg were given to 22 patients every 6 hours (average treatment length 2.17 ± 1.1 days) until ammonemia was normalized. In nine patients, CA was used in combination with other drugs to treat hyperammonemia. In all cases, blood ammonia levels were brought under control and symptoms of hyperammonemia resolved. Two hours after CA administration, the average reduction in ammonium levels was 53 ± 29 and 88.6 ± 47.5 µmol/L at 24 hours, resulting in a statistically significant decrease when compared to pretreatment levels. There were no statistically significant differences between sexes, in the presence or not of cognitive impairment or previous carnitine treatment. There were no statistically significant differences when comparing treatment with CA plus ammonia scavengers vs CA alone. In 17 patients (68%) VPA was discontinued and 62% of the patients who maintained treatment had recurrent episodes of hyperammonemia.
Subject(s)
Leukocyte L1 Antigen Complex , Milk, Human , Animals , Feces , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant HealthABSTRACT
No disponible
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Pregnancy , Adolescent , Pregnancy in Adolescence/statistics & numerical data , Risk Factors , Early Diagnosis , Public Health , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
No disponible
