Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract NACNDC/19JASH072 (Oral 3C) | Published:  30 Nov 2025

Factors associated with wasting among pediatric cancer patients at Uganda Cancer Institute: A cross-sectional study

Daisy Wannyana1,2,&, Arthur Bagonza1, Sandrah Joyce Mwima1,2, Christine Nalwadda1, Rawlance Ndejjo3,4

1Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health, Makerere University Kampala, Uganda, 2Department of Public Health and Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences, Victoria University, Kampala, Uganda, 3Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, 4Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea

&Corresponding author: Wannyana Daisy, Department of Public Health and Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences, Victoria University, Kampala, Uganda, Email: wannidaisy@gmail.com, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4401-5225

Received: 25 Aug 2025, Accepted: 20 Oct 2025, Published: 30 Nov 2025

Domain: Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology

This is part of the Proceedings of the National Annual Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases Conference (NACNDC) and 19th Joint Annual Scientific Health (JASH) Conference 2025

Keywords: Wasting, pediatric, Uganda Cancer Institute

©Daisy Wannyana et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cite this article: Daisy Wannyana et al. Factors associated with wasting among pediatric cancer patients at Uganda Cancer Institute: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc6):072. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO6-00072

Introduction

Wasting is a major concern among pediatric cancer patients and significantly affects treatment outcomes and quality of life. However, limited data exist on the prevalence of wasting and its associated factors in low-income contexts. This study determined the prevalence of wasting and its associated factors among pediatric cancer patients aged 2–17 years at the Uganda Cancer Institute.

Methods

An institutionally based, cross-sectional study was conducted among 270 systematically randomly selected caregiver‒child pairs. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariable analyses were conducted using STATA version 14. Variables with p-value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results

Among 270 pediatric cancer patients aged 2–17 years, 27.4% (n=74) were wasted. Children aged 5 years and older had a 20% higher prevalence of wasting (aPR=1.2; p=0.002). Cancers near the gastrointestinal tract were associated with a 10% greater prevalence of wasting (aPR=1.1; p=0.028). Wasting was lower by 20% among children whose caregivers had tertiary education (aPR=0.8; p=0.002), whereas treatment effects increased wasting prevalence by 10% (aPR=1.1; p=0.013).

Conclusion

Wasting is a prevalent form of malnutrition among pediatric cancer patients requiring the integration of nutritional services to address the nutritional needs of children, especially those aged greater than 5 years, those with cancers along the gastro-intestinal tract and those experiencing treatment effects. Additionally, health and nutrition education programs tailored to the caregiver’s level of education are needed.

 
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Keywords

  • Wasting

  • Pediatric

  • Uganda Cancer Institute

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