Nutritional intake
There was no significant difference in overall daily energy intake between CCS and the control group (t=1.738, p=0.84). Children with cancer consumed significantly more sweetened beverages on a daily basis than the control group (z=-1.978, p 0.048). There was no statistically significant difference between CCS and the control group for all other core or non-core food intake (TABLE 3).
Diet quality
The CCS had poorer diet quality than children in the control group (t=-2.226, p=0.028). There was no significant difference between the number of CCS and controls categorised into poor, moderate and good diet quality groups, however 54% of CCS were considered to have a moderate to good diet quality compared with 71% of healthy control participants (TABLE 4).
Child feeding behaviour
Using the CEBQ, CCS were found to have a higher percentage (40%) of participants classified as having ‘food fussiness’ than healthy controls (28%). A significant difference (t =0.106 p=0.044) was found between CCS and the control group when objectively measuring picky eating behaviour, using the CFQ (picky eating subscale)(19)
(TABLE 5).
For the CCS group there was an inverse relationship between the picky eating score and age at diagnosis (Rho=-0.314, p=0.035) and current age (Rho=-0.323, p=0.031), with CCS diagnosed at a younger age having higher picky eating scores. An inverse relationship was also found between children’s emotional overeating score and the type of cancer treatment regimen they received (Rho=-0.333, p=0.025), with CCS that had less intensive treatment (such as surgery or only one treatment modality of chemotherapy OR radiation) being more likely to have parent-reported overeating behaviours.