Assessment of Malnutrition Risk in Canadian Pediatric Hospitals: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study

To assess the prevalence, causes, and consequences of malnutrition, as well as the evolution of nutritional status, in Canadian pediatric health care institutions.

In this multicenter prospective cohort study, a total of 371 patients were recruited from pediatric hospitals in 5 Canadian provinces. Subjects were aged 1 month to 18 years; admitted to a medical, surgical, or oncology ward; and had a planned hospital stay of >48 hours. Data on demographics, medical condition, anthropometric measures, and dietary intake were collected. The Screening Tool Risk on Nutritional Status and Growth (STRONG_kids) and Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA) were applied at admission. Malnutrition was defined as a weight-for-age, height-for-age, body mass index-for-age, or weight-for-length/height z score <-2 SD.

Among 307 subjects (median age, 5.3 years; median length of stay, 5 days), 19.5% were malnourished on admission. Both STRONG_kids and SGNA classifications were associated with baseline nutritional status. Mean weight-for-age z score was lower at discharge compared with admission (-0.14 vs -0.09; P < .01), and nearly one-half of all patients lost weight during their hospital stay. Only one-half of the children who were malnourished or screened as high risk of malnutrition were visited by a dietitian during their stay. The percentage of patients who lost weight during hospitalization was significantly greater in the group not visited by a dietitian (76.5 vs 23.5%; P < .01).

Nutritional status deterioration and malnutrition are common in hospitalized Canadian children. Screening tools, anthropometric measurements, and dietitian consultation should be used to establish adequate nutritional support.