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Malnutrition in critically ill children: from admission to 6 months after discharge

Jessie Hulst1, Koen Joosten, Luc Zimmermann

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus MC, Sophia Children's Hospital, 3000 CB Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Clinical Nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland)
|March 20, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Malnutrition affects 24% of critically ill children. However, most pediatric patients achieve nutritional recovery within six months post-discharge from the intensive care unit, indicating a positive long-term outlook.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric critical care medicine
  • Nutritional science
  • Clinical nutrition

Background:

  • Nutritional status of critically ill children during and after intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalization is not well understood.
  • A prospective, observational study was conducted to address this knowledge gap.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the nutritional status of children admitted to a pediatric and neonatal ICU.
  • To track nutritional status from admission up to six months post-discharge.
  • To identify patient characteristics influencing anthropometric parameters.

Main Methods:

  • Nutritional status assessed via anthropometry in 293 children (preterm neonates, term neonates, older children).
  • Assessments conducted upon admission, during hospitalization, at discharge, and at 6 weeks and 6 months post-discharge.
  • Multidisciplinary tertiary pediatric and neonatal ICU setting.

Main Results:

  • 24% of children were undernourished on admission.
  • Preterm and term neonates showed a decline in nutritional status during ICU stay.
  • Most children achieved complete nutritional recovery by 6 months post-discharge.
  • Length of stay and disease history impacted nutritional status in neonates.

Conclusions:

  • Malnutrition is a significant issue in pediatric ICUs.
  • Despite initial challenges, most children experience good long-term nutritional outcomes after discharge.
Abstract

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