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WEDNESDAY, Feb. 13, 2019 (HealthDay News) — For children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), obesity is associated with an increased risk for adverse events during premaintenance chemotherapy, according to a study published in the February issue of Pediatric Blood & Cancer<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Chelsea K. Meenan, from the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues retrospectively evaluated 155 pediatric ALL patients diagnosed at a single institution between 2006 and 2012 for adverse events. The authors compared the proportions of obese versus nonobese patients experiencing adverse events.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that in univariate analyses, treatment-requiring hypertension (17.5 versus 6.1 percent; odds ratio, 3.27) and insulin-requiring hyperglycemia (25.0 versus 11.3 percent; odds ratio, 2.62) occurred significantly more frequently in obese patients. The incidence rates for recurrent admission-requiring infections (incidence rate ratio, 1.64) and recurrent febrile neutropenia admissions (incidence rate ratio, 1.53) were greater for obese patients. Obesity was a risk factor for treatment-requiring hypertension, insulin-requiring hyperglycemia, and febrile neutropenia admission after accounting for combined age and National Cancer Institute risk status (odds ratios, 3.90, 3.92, and 2.92, respectively).<\/p>\n
“Obese children with ALL represent a group of patients at risk for poor outcomes due to treatment-related morbidity,” the authors write. “Early management of these adverse events and surveillance initiated at diagnosis may mitigate risk in this distinct population of patients.”<\/p>\n