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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Effects of hospital stay on nutritional anthropometric data in Turkish children
Yesim Oztürk1, Benal Büyükgebiz, Nur Arslan
1Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Metabolism and Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, Inciralti, Izmir,Turkey. yesimozturk@hotmail.com
Insights
Hospitalization negatively impacts nutritional status in children, especially those aged 2-6 years. Early nutritional assessment is crucial for pediatric patients to mitigate risks associated with malnutrition.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Clinical Nutrition
- Anthropometry
Background:
- Hospitalization can negatively affect a child's nutritional status.
- Undernutrition at admission poses risks to pediatric patients.
- Nutritional anthropometric data are key indicators of health status.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of hospitalization on pediatric nutritional anthropometric data.
- To investigate the effects of admission undernutrition on hospitalized children.
- To identify age groups most vulnerable to nutritional decline during hospital stay.
Main Methods:
- Assessed nutritional anthropometric data in various pediatric age groups.
- Compared nutritional status of children upon admission and during hospitalization.
- Analyzed data from pediatric patients at a Turkish university hospital.
Main Results:
- Hospitalization adversely affected nutritional status, most notably in undernourished children aged 2-6 years.
- Mild malnutrition at admission was associated with reduced anthropometric parameters (p < 0.05).
- 31.8% of pediatric patients in Turkey were at nutritional risk upon admission.
Conclusions:
- Hospitalization poses a significant nutritional risk, particularly for young, undernourished children.
- Routine nutritional evaluation upon admission is essential for all pediatric patients.
- Children with mild malnutrition require special attention due to increased hospitalization risks.
Abstract:
We evaluated the effects of hospital stay on nutritional anthropometric data in children of various age groups and investigated the effects of admission undernutrition on nutritional anthropometric data in children who were hospitalized in our university hospital in Turkey. The adverse effect of hospitalization on nutritional status was shown to be most obvious on the 2-6-year age group with undernourished children. We also found reduced anthropometric parameters in all patients with mild malnutrition at admission (p < 0.05). A significant number of pediatric patients in Turkey are at nutritional risk at the time of hospital admission (31.8 per cent). The well-nourished children do not carry nutritional risk due to hospitalization for other medical reasons. Since undernutrition has an adverse effect on morbidity and mortality, careful nutritional evaluation of children on admission is essential. Special attention should be given to patients who had mild malnutrition on admission since this population of patients seem to be at higher risk of adverse effect of hospitalization.
