Abstracts

Pediatric Leukopenia in Children Treated with Prolonged Ketogenic and Modified Atkins Diet Therapy

Abstract number : 3.338
Submission category : 10. Dietary Therapies (Ketogenic, Atkins, etc.)
Year : 2021
Submission ID : 1825749
Source : www.aesnet.org
Presentation date : 12/6/2021 12:00:00 PM
Published date : Nov 22, 2021, 06:50 AM

Authors :
chelsey Stillman, MPAS, PA-C - Children's Colorado; Roger Paxton, PhD - Childrens Colorado; Charuta Joshi, MBBS - Childrens Colorado

Rationale: Ketogenic dietary therapies (KDTs) are well-established, nonpharmacologic treatments used for children and adults with medication-refractory epilepsy. The ketogenic diet has been reported to show leukopenia in 15% of pediatric patients (2. We looked at the relationship of the diet to leukopenia as part of a quality improvement project.

Methods: Utilizing a secure database, we assessed 105 patients from 2017-2019 who remained on diet more than three months using manual chart review. White blood cell counts were noted in 10*3/mcl with the lower reference range is 5.2 10*3/mcl. Other parameters of complete blood count, dietary therapy, method of feeding, supplements used, medications used were also documented. Univariate and multiple regression were used with a significance value of 0.05.

Results: 95/105 patients were keto, 10/105 were MAD. We used logistic regression and found that diet only accounts for 3% (9< 0.05) of the variance from KDT. To gain a sufficient sample size, we did not differentiate ketogenic diet from MAD due to low MAD numbers. Notably at Visit 6 (V6) 84/105 (80%) patients remaining on diet. Incidence of leukopenia at visit 6 was 14.2%. Time to visit 6 was 695 days ( SD 251 days).
Dietary Therapies (Ketogenic, Atkins, etc.)