A nutrition screening tool for childhood cancer (SCAN)

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Nutrition screening is a simple alternative to nutrition assessment for identifying children with cancer who are at risk of malnutrition. A new nutrition screening tool for childhood cancer, SCAN, has been developed. SCAN aims to identify the need for nutritional intervention by identifying patients that are currently undernourished or are at high risk of becoming malnourished. SCAN consists of 6 scored questions, a total score ≥3 identifies patient 'at risk of malnutrition' who should be referred to a dietician or clinician. This study aims to assess SCAN in children and adolescents with cancer. Design/Methods: SCAN was used to screen 91 children with cancer (n=47 females; n=49 solid tumors), between 0.75 and 17.1 years of age. Subjects were classified as 'at risk of malnutrition' and 'not at risk of malnutrition' according to SCAN. Measures of height, weight, body mass index (BMI), mid upper arm circumference and triceps skinfolds were taken in each subject and measures were compared between the malnutrition risk groups. Survival at 1 year post screening was recorded. Results: SCAN classified 59% of the subjects as 'at risk of malnutrition'. Subjects who were identified as 'at risk of malnutrition' had significantly lower values for weight Z score (p<0.001) BMI Z score (p<0.001) and triceps skinfolds (p<0.01) than subjects who were 'not at risk of malnutrition'. There were significantly more children with a solid tumor who were classified as 'at risk of malnutrition' (p=0.01). The number of patients surviving 1 year after screening was not significantly different between the risk groups (p=0.85). Conclusion: SCAN is a new tool available to screen children with cancer for risk of malnutrition, enabling early identification and treatment of malnutrition. Children screened as 'at risk of malnutrition' have reduced weight and body size and are more likely to be diagnosed with a solid tumor.L6131903272016-11-17 <br />