Body mass index after treatment for solid tumors in childhood

Overweight is frequently diagnosed in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia survivors, but less is known about body weight after treatment for a solid tumour. Objective: Assessment of the prevalence of under- and/or overweight after solid tumour treatment in childhood. Patients and methods: Inclusion criteria: diagnosis of solid tumour between 1972 and 1993, age at diagnosis below 21 years, complete remission more than five years post-treatment. Height and weight for BMI where retrospectively calculated five, ten and fifteen years post-treatment. The prevalence of over- and underweight in the survivors was compared with reference groups using the chi square test. The relation between under-/overweight and age at diagnosis and gender was evaluated with regression-analysis. Results: 337 survivors (198 male) met the inclusion criteria. Cancer diagnoses were: sarcoma (n = 74), blastoma (n = 65), brain tumour (n = 72), malignant lymphoma (n = 73), LCH (n = 24) and miscellaneous (n = 29). The prevalence of overweight was not increased. The prevalence of underweight was significantly increased in women until ten years post-treatment, in males until fifteen years post-treatment, and in survivors of blastoma, sarcoma or malignant lymphoma. There was no relation between BMI and gender or age at diagnosis. Conclusion: In long term solid tumour survivors the prevalence of underweight was increased whereas no increase of overweight was found.