Poor diet quality and adverse eating behaviors in young survivors of childhood cancer.

Background: The long-term impact of childhood cancer treatment on dietary intake is likely to be complex, and the length of time dietary behaviors are affected after childhood cancer treatment is unknown.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the diet quality in childhood cancer survivors recently off treatment and explore possible contributing factors that may affect diet quality in this population.

Methods: Participants were 65 parents and/or carers of childhood cancer survivors (CCS) (aged 2-18 years), recently off treatment, and 81 age-matched controls. Participants completed two self-administered dietary intake and eating behavior questionnaires. Study data were explored to determine between group differences, bivariate analysis using Spearman correlations was used to determine the relationship between diet quality and identified variables, and hierarchical cluster analysis was completed to characterize specific variables into clusters.

Results: One hundred and forty-six parents of children aged 2-18 years completed the study (65 parents of CCS and 81 control). CCS had a significantly poorer diet quality score than the age-matched controls (32.25 vs 34.83, P = 0.028). CCS had significantly higher parent-reported rates of "picky eating" behavior than the control group (2.31 vs 1.91; P = 0.044). Factors such as picky eating, emotional overeating, and body mass index z-score might drive diet quality in survivors.

Conclusions: CCS were found to have poorer diet quality and more likely to have parents report picky eating behaviors. The outcomes highlighted the need for a tailored intervention aimed at improving healthy eating behaviors in CCS after treatment for cancer.