Thom Bridgette, Crowder Victoria R, Smitherman Andrew B, Cosgrove Bethany S, Bosch Rebecca, Vardhan Yashvi, Matt C Natasha, Ammerman Alice, Santacroce Sheila Judge
The University of North Carolina at Chapel (UNC) School of Social Work, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America.
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Jul 31;20(7):e0326762. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0326762. eCollection 2025.
Food and nutrition insecurity are actionable, clinically relevant social determinants of health that disproportionately affect pediatric populations, particularly those with serious illnesses, including cancer. Lack of consistent access to nutritious food contributes to poorer treatment tolerance, increased infection risk, lower quality of life, and worsened long-term health outcomes. Medically-tailored meals (MTM) have shown promise in improving health outcomes in adults with diet-sensitive conditions, but their feasibility and acceptability in pediatric populations remain unexplored. The Medically Tailored Meals for Pediatric Populations at Risk for Disparities in Serious Illness Outcomes due to Inequities in Food-Related Social Drivers of Health (MTM-Kids) study aims to assess feasibility of providing medically tailored meals to adolescents undergoing cancer treatment, with a focus on recruitment, retention, parental cost-coping, and preliminary impact on food-related insecurities,.
This study will enroll 15 adolescent-parent dyads from a pediatric oncology clinic. Participants will receive weekly deliveries of up to 10 frozen medically tailored meals over a 12-week intervention period. Feasibility will be assessed based on recruitment, retention, and adherence to study requirements. Acceptability and appropriateness of the intervention will be evaluated using surveys and semi-structured interviews conducted at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes include changes in household food insecurity, financial burden, and parental time demands as well as reported meal satisfaction and chemotherapy-related taste alterations. Quantitative data will be analyzed descriptively, and qualitative data will undergo thematic analysis.
The study will provide critical insights into the feasibility of implementing medically tailored meals for pediatric oncology and other patients. Findings will inform the design of a future randomized controlled trial assessing the efficacy of MTM in improving nutritional status, treatment outcomes, and overall well-being in this vulnerable population. MTM-Kids may serve as a scalable intervention to address health disparities related to food insecurity in pediatric populations with serious illness.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06814795.
食物和营养不安全是可采取行动的、具有临床相关性的健康社会决定因素，对儿科人群，尤其是患有包括癌症在内的严重疾病的人群影响尤为严重。缺乏持续获取营养食物的途径会导致治疗耐受性变差、感染风险增加、生活质量降低以及长期健康结果恶化。医学定制餐（MTM）已显示出有望改善患有饮食敏感型疾病的成年人的健康结果，但其在儿科人群中的可行性和可接受性仍未得到探索。因与食物相关的健康社会驱动因素不平等而面临严重疾病结果差异风险的儿科人群医学定制餐（MTM-Kids）研究旨在评估为接受癌症治疗的青少年提供医学定制餐的可行性，重点关注招募、留存、家长成本应对以及对与食物相关的不安全感的初步影响。
本研究将从一家儿科肿瘤诊所招募15对青少年-家长二元组。参与者将在为期12周的干预期内每周收到多达10份冷冻的医学定制餐。将根据招募、留存和对研究要求的依从性来评估可行性。将在第4周、第8周和第12周通过调查和半结构化访谈来评估干预措施的可接受性和适宜性。次要结果包括家庭食物不安全、经济负担和家长时间需求的变化，以及报告的餐食满意度和化疗相关的味觉改变。定量数据将进行描述性分析，定性数据将进行主题分析。
该研究将为在儿科肿瘤学及其他患者中实施医学定制餐的可行性提供关键见解。研究结果将为未来一项随机对照试验的设计提供信息，该试验将评估MTM对改善这一弱势群体的营养状况、治疗结果和总体幸福感的疗效。MTM-Kids可能作为一种可扩展的干预措施，以解决患有严重疾病的儿科人群中与食物不安全相关的健康差异问题。
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06814795。
