The prevalence of overweight and obesity in pediatric survivors of cancer

Objective To compare the prevalence of overweight in a cohort of pediatric survivors of cancer with that in the general population. Study design We reviewed the charts of 441 cancer survivors followed at a Canadian tertiary care pediatric hospital and calculated their most recent body mass index. We compared this cohort with population data generated from the Canadian Community Health Survey. Results At a median age of 14.7 years (range, 3.4 to 19.5 years) and a median tune from diagnosis of 9.7 years (range, 3.4 to 19.2 years), 140 of 441 patients (31.7%) were overweight or obese. Only 12 of the 441 patients (2.7%) were underweight. Males age 6 to 11 years (odds ratio [OR] = 2.29; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.36 to 3.86; P < .001) and male survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (OR = 1.55; 95% CI = 1.03 to 2.52; P = .04) were more likely to be overweight than the 14 general population. No other age or diagnostic group had an increased risk of overweight. Conclusions The prevalence of overweight was not increased in this cohort compared with the general population. However, almost 1/3 of these patients are overweight, necessitating a clinical and research focus on preventing and combating overweight in childhood cancer survivors.