J Korean Oncol Nurs.  2010 Aug;10(2):210-217.

Survey on Dietary Restrictions for Neutropenic Patients

• Jeon OK
• Yim SE
• Jeong IS
• Yun EY
• Kim MH
• Park YS
• Lee SR

Abstract

PURPOSE
This survey was aimed to examine the current dietary restrictions practices for neutropenic patients among hospitals with 500 and more beds.
METHODS
Self-administered questionnaires were sent to 100 head or charge nurses of oncology or hemato-oncology wards by mail during October 2009, and 51 questionnaires were returned. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics using SPSS (WIN version 12.0).
RESULTS
Of the hospitals surveyed, 47.1% (n=24) had guidelines on the dietary restrictions, and 80.4% (n=41) placed patients with neutropenia on restricted diets. The major decisional criteria of the dietary restriction was absolute neutrophil count (30.5%) and cooking status (29.2%). The most commonly restricted foods were raw fish or fresh meat (98.0%), uncooked intestine (98.0%), raw eggs (98.0%), draught beer (96.1%), and fresh fruits or vegetables (86.3%).
CONCLUSION
The results showed variation in pattern of dietary restrictions and lower rate of guideline among hospitals, so that the need for the standard dietary restriction guideline is high. However, the role of diet in the development of infection in neutropenic patients is still unclear, which makes it difficult to establish dietary restriction guideline. Therefore, additional research are required to identify the relationship between dietary factors and infections.

Keyword

Neutropenia; Dietary restriction

MeSH Terms

Beer
Cooking
Diet
Eggs
Fruit
Head
Humans
Intestines
Meat
Neutropenia
Neutrophils
Nursing, Supervisory
Ovum
Postal Service
Surveys and Questionnaires
Vegetables

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Decisional criteria to determine dietary restriction.

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