Eating behaviour, nutritional status and taste alteration in children with cancer

The aim of this study was to investigate eating behavior, nutritional status and taste alterations in children with cancer. The study was descriptive and cross-sectional. The population of the study consisted of children aged 8-18 years and their parents who were followed up and received chemotherapy in the pediatric hematology and oncology clinic and outpatient clinic of Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine Oncology Hospital between December 2020 and June 2022. The sample size of the study was determined as 80 children by power analysis. Data were collected using the Child Identification Form, the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ), the Taste Alteration Scale for Children Receiving Chemotherapy (TAC TAS) and the Subjective Total Taste Acuity Scale (STTCA). Children were administered the Child Identification Form, the TAC-TAS and the STTCA, and their parents were administered the CEBQ face-to-face by the researcher. The weight and height of the children were measured by the researcher using a weighing and height measuring device in the hospital. Normality test, Content Validity Index, mean, number and percentage distributions, Spearman Brown Rank Difference correlation analysis, Mann Whitney U and Kruskall Wallis tests were used to analyze the data. Body Mass Index (BMI) Z score was between -2 and +2 (normal) in 92.5% of the children and below ≤-2 (malnutrition) in 7.5%. The mean scores of the sub-dimensions of the CEBQ were as follows: food craving 12.48±5.36, emotional overeating 5.28±1.45, enjoyment of food 16.83±5.41, passion for drinking 9.72±5.13, satiety enthusiasm 22.93±6.65, slow eating 9.81±4.95, emotional under-eating 16.38±4.41, food selectivity 10.72±2.86, and the mean total score of the TAC-TAS was 8.66±10.22. It was determined that there was a negative and medium-level correlation between food craving and enjoyment of food and taste alteration, and as taste alteration increased, food craving and enjoyment decreased, and there was a positive and medium-level correlation between slow eating and taste, and as taste alteration increased, eating slowed down.