文本框: NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF CHILDREN WITH EMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES Roganovic J, Smokvina M, Persic M, Lupis T Department of Pediatrics, University Medical School Rijeka, Croatia Objective: Children with cancer represent a high-risk group for protein-energy malnutrition. This might be due either to the cachexia caused by elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor, or to inadequate caloric and protein intake caused by side effects associated with treatment. The aim of this study was to determine nutritional status of children with hematological malignancies (HM) at the time of diagnosis, and to investigate the relationship of nutritional status on the clinical outcome of these patients. Methods: 40 patients with HM (27 acute lymphocytic leukemia, 2 acute myelocytic leukemia, and 11 non-Hodgkin lymphoma) treated at the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Rijeka, Croatia, in the period from 1990 to 1999, were included in the study. Body mass index (BMI, weight/height2) was used as a simple index of nutritional status. Data were obtained retrospectively from anthropometric measurements routinely made at diagnosis in each patient. The control group consisted of 40 healthy children matched for age and sex. Results: Body mass index did not differ significantly between children with HM and control group. There was no evidence that BMI was related to clinical outcome. Conclusions: The study results suggest that undernutrition is not common in children with newly diagnosed HM. In our relatively small sample size nutritional status at diagnosis has no effect on the prognosis in childhood leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 1923