Nutritional Screening Tools in the Pediatric Population: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nutrition
• Clinical Diagnostics
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Disease-related malnutrition (DRM) is prevalent in industrialized nations, contributing to significant patient morbidity.
• Existing pediatric nutritional screening tools lack a consensus for optimal clinical application.
• This review addresses the need for updated evidence on pediatric nutritional screening tool validity and applicability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and update evidence on pediatric nutritional screening tools.
• To compare the validity and applicability of various pediatric nutritional screening tools.
• To identify the most effective tool for detecting malnutrition in children.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature review was performed using MEDLINE (PubMed).
• Articles focused on nutritional screening tools within the pediatric population.
• Study quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) tool.

Main Results:

• Eleven studies, encompassing 9,573 pediatric patients, were included from 200 identified articles.
• Eight screening tools were identified; STRONGkids, STAMP, and PYMS were most frequently used.
• Significant heterogeneity and lack of a gold standard were noted across studies.

Conclusions:

• The Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS) demonstrates superior capability in identifying pediatric patients at nutritional risk.
• PYMS should be strongly considered when selecting a nutritional screening tool for pediatric populations.
• Further research may be needed to address heterogeneity in existing studies.