Nutritional Assessment of Adult Patients with Acute Leukemia in the Hematological Department in Baghdad Hospital at the Medical City 2022

Abstract

Background Though the incidence of acute leukemia is low, it has a high mortality. In Iraq, leukemia represents the 5th most common cancer in both males and females with a grave impact on the country due to premature death, and loss of productivity which affects the socioeconomic and health welfare of the population. Malnutrition with leukemia is common and was linked to inferior survival, longer hospital stay, and cost. Aim To evaluate the nutritional status of adult patients with acute leukemia and assess the association between nutritional status with the duration of disease and length of hospital stay. Patients and methods A cross sectional study conducted in Baghdad Hospital, Medical city, involved a convenient sample of 100 adults 18-60 years old patients admitted to the hematology ward with acute leukemia during the time of the study. Verbal consent was ensured before reviewing patients’ demography and medical history. Anthropometric measures were done, BMI, TSF and MUAC were calculated accordingly. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used for data analysis, independent t-test, Chi square and Fischer exact tests were applied as needed. In all statistical analyses a P-value equal or less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results Malnutrition was diagnosed using BMI classification in 21% of the patients. Age, weight, MUAC showed a significant association with malnutrition. There was a significant difference between the duration of disease, chemotherapy cycle, length of hospital stay, and energy intake between malnourished and well-nourished patients. The study reported a statistically significant association between nutritional state and age, loss of subcutaneous fat, and muscle wasting. No significant difference was reported between malnourished and well-nourished patients according to TSF classification, Weight and weight loss percentage showed lower means in MUAC classification, while the length of hospital stay showed higher means in MUAC classification (p-value<0.001). Conclusion and recommendationsAttention should be paid to acute leukemia patients’ nutritional needs to achieve better disease outcomes.