OBJETIVE: To evaluate the malnutrition prevalence in children and adolescents with solid tumors, who received treatment in a Brazilian oncology center. METHODS: 44 patients were evaluated during the first month of the oncology therapy, using anthropometric measures and, according to the World Health Organization criteria, the Z-scores of weight/age, height/age, and weight/height. RESULTS: The Z-scores of weight/age, height/age, and weight/height showed 16%, 7% e 16% of malnutrition, respectively. Prevalence of malnutrition was observed in 27% of patients with cerebral tumors, 25% of those with neuroblastomas, and 11% of those with Wilms tumor. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of malnutrition in this population, may be associated with the disease, its treatment, and the social and economic factors. Nonetheless, failure to identify nutritional risk, due to the lack of a nutritional protocol, may be another cause of malnutrition in patients with solid tumors.
children; nutritional status; neoplasms; nephroblastoma; child nutrition disorders
