Hypoalbuminemia in children with cancer treated with chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Hypoalbuminemia is a well-recognized finding associated with cancer, but its prevalence and prognostic significance have not been well studied in children with cancer. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of hypoalbuminemia prior to starting chemotherapy in children with cancer and its association with relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). DESIGN/METHOD: We performed a single institution, IRB-approved, retrospective review of pediatric oncology patients diagnosed between 1998 and 2012. Five-year survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method; groups were compared using Cox regression. RESULTS: We identified 659 pediatric patients with a first diagnosis of cancer and a serum albumin level prior to starting chemotherapy. Mean age was 8.6 years (SD = 5.8); 62% were male and 92% were non-Hispanic. Hypoalbuminemia prior to starting chemotherapy was present at least once in 302 (45.8%). The five-year RFS and OS of those with hypoalbuminemia and without hypoalbuminemia were not significantly different. However, patients with severe hypoalbuminemia (defined as a value 10% or more below the lower limit of normal) had inferior RFS and OS for patients with hematologic/lymphatic malignancies, and inferior RFS for patients with metstatic Ewing sarcoma. CONCLUSION: Hypoalbuminemia prior to starting chemotherapy in pediatric oncology patients is common (nearly half in this cohort). Severe hypoalbuminemia was associated with inferior 5-year RFS in some subgroups.

Weight Bias in Pediatric Inpatient Care.

OBJECTIVE: Weight bias can influence medical care but has not been studied in the pediatric inpatient setting. We will quantify implicit and explicit weight bias of pediatric inpatient providers and qualitatively explore providers' attitudes toward children with obesity and patient/family perceptions of weight bias in the hospital. METHODS: We performed a mixed-methods study including semistructured key informant interviews and validated tests for implicit (Implicit Association Test) and explicit (Crandall's Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire) bias with pediatric hospitalists, residents, and acute care nurses. We performed semistructured key informant interviews with pediatric inpatients aged 7 to 17 years and the patient's parent(s) or guardian(s). Interviews were coded using an inductive approach to identify recurrent themes. RESULTS: We enrolled 28 pediatric providers, 12 patients, and 12 parents/guardians. In total, 71% of providers exhibited moderate or strong implicit weight bias, with generally lower scores for explicit bias. Qualitative analysis identified seven themes: the existence of weight bias, shared responsibility for a child's obesity, a potential for provider bias toward the parents of pediatric patients with obesity, possible effects of patient weight on inpatient care, importance of terminology in addressing obesity, and the possibility of addressing obesity inpatient but a preference for obesity to be addressed in the outpatient setting. CONCLUSIONS: Health care providers, patients, and families in the pediatric inpatient setting identified multiple ways that obesity could impact care, including provider weight bias.