Table 1.

Summary of studies reporting the association between nutritional status at diagnosis and outcomes of children with cancer *.

Cancer Site	N Studies	Outcomes
Leukemia	Meta-analyses (N = 5); 5 more recent original studies	-ALL: increased BMI associated with higher mortality, risk of relapse, and poorer EFS -AML: increased BMI associated with poorer OS and EFS -Post HSCT: malnutrition linked to poorer OS, progression-free survival, and higher risk of GvHD; lower BMI associated with poorer OS and EFS
Hodgkin lymphoma	2	-Malnutrition associated with worse OS (75–79%)
Ewing sarcoma	3	-Undernutrition associated with increased cardiotoxicity risk -No association between low BMI and TRT -Abnormal BMI (high or low) associated with poor histological response and OS
Osteosarcoma	2	-High BMI associated with increased risk of complications (arterial thrombosis, nephrotoxicity) -Low BMI associated with increased risk of wound infection and slough -High BMI linked to worse OS and EFS
Rhabdomyosarcoma	2	-Over 10% weight loss associated with increased number of hospitalization days -Patient weight (≥50 kg) associated with worse EFS
Neuroblastoma and Wilms tumors	2	-Non-significant associations

* Abbreviations: ALL, acute lymphoblastic leukemia; AML, acute myeloid leukemia; BMI, body mass index; EFS, event-free survival; GvHD, graft versus host disease; HSCT, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; OS, overall survival; TRT, treatment-related toxicity.