ArticleCancer medicine2023
Physical frailty deteriorates after a 5-day dexamethasone course in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, results of a national prospective study.
Article in Cancer medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Body composition changes and nutritional challenges in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: Perspectives from low-resource settings.The Indian journal of medical research · 2026Review
- Comparison of body composition between thin and normal-weight sarcopenic children: a single-center, propensity score matching analysis of a large-scale study.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Cancer-related fatigue in children during treatment: a 5-year cohort study of daily patient-reported outcomes with clinical implications.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Establishing consensus on defining the physically vulnerable child with cancer: a protocol for an international Delphi approach.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Physical performance before and after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in pediatric patients: a potential role for prehabilitation.Bone marrow transplantation · 2024Article
- Bibliometric analysis of research trends in the relationship between frailty and neoplasms over the past decade.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Physical frailty deteriorates after a 5-day dexamethasone course in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, results of a national prospective study.Cancer medicine · 2023Article
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10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDexamethasone is important in the treatment for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) but induces muscle atrophy with negative consequences for muscle mass, muscle strength, and functional abilities. The aim of this study was to establish the effect of a dexamethasone course on sarcopenia and physical frailty in children with ALL, and to explore prognostic factors.
methodsPatients with ALL aged 3-18 years were included during maintenance therapy. Patients had a sarcopenia/frailty assessment on the first day of (T1) and on the day after (T2) a 5-day dexamethasone course. Sarcopenia was defined as low muscle strength in combination with low muscle mass. Prefrailty and frailty were defined as having two or ≥three of the following components, respectively: low muscle mass, low muscle strength, fatigue, slow walking speed, and low physical activity. Chi-squared and paired t-tests were used to assess differences between T1 and T2. Logistic regression models were estimated to explore patient- and therapy-related prognostic factors for frailty on T2.
resultsWe included 105 patients, 61% were boys. Median age was 5.3 years (range: 3-18.8). At T1, sarcopenia, prefrailty, and frailty were observed in respectively 2.8%, 23.5%, and 4.2% of patients. At T2, the amount of patients with frailty had increased to 17.7% (p = 0.002), whereas the number of patients with sarcopenia and prefrailty remained similar. Higher ASMM (odds ratio [OR]: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.28-0.83), stronger handgrip strength (OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.22-0.77) and more physical activity minutes per day (OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.96-0.99) decreased the risk of frailty at T2. Slower walking performance (OR: 2, 95% CI: 1.2-3.39) increased the risk. Fatigue levels at T1 were not associated with frailty at T2.
conclusionPhysical frailty increased strikingly after a 5-days dexamethasone course in children with ALL. Children with poor physical state at start of the dexamethasone course were more likely to be frail after the course.
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