Effect of neutropenic diet adherence on malnutrition and duration of hospital stay in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Neutropenic diets (ND) were once considered to be important for the protection of patients from neutropenia when chemotherapy continued. The dietetic difficulties struggling with neutropenic patients include decreased quality of life, inadequate nutrition, long hospitalization duration, gastrointestinal side effects, avoidance of food and cell mediated immunity resulting from vitamin deficiency. This cross-sectional trial evaluated the effect of ND adherence on malnutrition and hospitalization duration in sixty children. 58.3% (n=35) of patients were boys and 41.7% (n=25) of patients were girls who were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A scoring system has been developed with a diet limitation score for each question. The score increased with the decrease in ND adherence. The adherence rate was 61.7% (n= 37) for the ND. The hospitalization duration was actually significantly lower in the low ND adherence (p=0.027). ND extends the length of stay in the hospital while it does not effect malnutrition status.