Burkitt’s lymphoma is a malignant tumour of the B cellsand a major form of childhood cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. Treatment is through intensive cycles of cyclophosphamide and other chemotherapeutic agents. This study was aimedat determining the impact of disease burden and chemotherapy on the nutritional status of children suffering from the disease at the KATH, Kumasi, Ghana. Anthropometric measurements of BMI, TS), and MUAC of the patients were compared with normal healthy age – matched children. A total of 104 children were recruited for the study with 47 having the Burkitt’s lymphoma and 57 control children. Male children (72.3%) were the most affected and the rest (27.7%) were females. Age block < 5 yrs TSF showed a significant difference between test and control (p=0.0340). BMI was significantly different for the age block 10-14 yrs (p=0.0014) so was MUAC for the age block 5-9 yrs and 10-14 yrs (p=0.0002 and < 0.0001 respectively). A negative correlation (-0.385 and -0.230) was found between stage of disease as well as stage of treatment and BMI (p=0.008 and p=0.005) respectively. The study showed that there was significant difference between test and control subjects for at least one age block.However BMI proved to be the strongest anthropometric indicator for nutritional status.Chemotherapy and disease burden were found to have significant effect on the nutritional status of patients undergoing treatment for Burkitt’slymphoma and thus nutritional intervention may be necessary during chemotherapy.
