Abstract
Background: Although it is widely acknowledged that hospitalized children are at greater risk of malnutrition, the available paediatric Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS) tools have not yet become universally used to identify those children at greater risk. Furthermore, the utility of one NRS tool over another remains unclear. Materials and Methods: The utility of a recently developed tool, the Paediatric Nutritional Screening Tool (PNST), was evaluated using data previously collected in the assessment of three other NRS tools in 281 children from Iran and New Zealand. The sensitivity and specificity of each tool was then assessed based on the WHO criteria for malnutrition. Results: The PNST recognized about half of the malnourished patients while the other three tools identified at least 85% of these children. The sensitivity of PNST for moderate (BMI-z < 2) and severe malnutrition (BMI-z <-3) was 37% and 46% respectively, while the sensitivity for other three NRS tools ranged from 82-100%. Conclusion: In this data set, the PNST tool did not perform as well as the three more established NRS tools. Further work is required to provide optimal tools for the identification of hospitalized children at risk of malnutrition
Highlights
Children who require hospitalization are at greater risk of malnutrition during their hospital stay [1]
The Paediatric Nutritional Screening Tool (PNST) recognized about half of the malnourished patients while the other three tools identified at least 85% of these children
The sensitivity of PNST for moderate (BMI-z < 2) and severe malnutrition (BMI-z
Summary
Children who require hospitalization are at greater risk of malnutrition during their hospital stay [1]. Several screening tools have been developed for the assessment of the nutritional status of paediatric inpatients in recent years. The four tools and their components are summarised in Supplementary Appendix 1. The goal of these screening tools is to provide a rapid evaluation to identify children at risk of deterioration of their nutritional state during their hospitalization. Given the associations between malnutrition and nutritional risk with factors such as prolonged length of hospital stay, appropriate interventions may decrease morbidity and reduce hospitalization-related costs. It is widely acknowledged that hospitalized children are at greater risk of malnutrition, the available paediatric Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS) tools have not yet become universally used to identify those children at greater risk. The utility of one NRS tool over another remains unclear
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