Objective: Cross-national replication of the high rates of overweight/obesity among U.S. pediatric cancer survivors (PCS) is limited. Predictors of weight trajectories of Israeli PCS were examined from diagnosis and end of active cancer treatment to 3 years posttreatment.
Methods: World Health Organization-derived body mass index (z-BMI) values were calculated at each time point from medical records of 135 Israeli PCS ( M diagnosis age = 11.4). A three-section piecewise multilevel model including age, ethnicity, gender, treatment length, and diagnosis as predictors was used to estimate z-BMI trajectories.
Results: Most participants remained at a healthy weight at all time points. Differing weight trajectories emerged for PCS diagnosed with lymphoma/leukemia versus other cancer diagnoses from diagnosis to end of treatment, but similar weight change patterns were observed posttreatment.
Conclusion: Replication of U.S. PCS weight trajectories was not observed in Israeli PCS, suggesting the importance of exploring environmental risk factors contributing to obesity among PCS.
Keywords: obesity; pediatric cancer; weight trajectory.
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