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Factors Associated With Oral Mucositis Severity in Children Who Have Received Chemotherapy

Oral mucositis (OM) is a major complication for pediatric oncology patients undergoing cancer therapy. This paper aimed to report on the relationship between OM severity and various patient factors as well as to compare 2 scales used to assess OM severity. The severity of 68 separate episodes of OM in 47 pediatric oncology patients who had received chemotherapy was regularly assessed using the Children’s International Mucositis Evaluation Scale (ChIMES) and World Health Organization (WHO) scale. The mean time from the start of the patients’ chemotherapy block to the onset of OM was 8.4 days (±4.0), the median duration of OM was 7.0 days (4.0, 10.5) and median admission duration was 7.0 days (4.5, 13.5). There was a significant relationship between the severity of OM and the duration of symptoms (P<0.001), patient’s admission length (P<0.001) and low neutrophil count. With decreasing neutrophil count, the severity of OM and number of pain medications used increased. Neutrophil count recovery coincided with resolution of OM. No significant relationship was found between OM severity and the child’s cancer diagnosis. The 2 scales used to measure OM severity showed substantial agreement.