Comparison of Pediatric Nutrition Screening Tool (PNST) With the Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS) in Hospitalized Turkish Children

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of Pediatric Nutrition Screening Tool (PNST) and Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS) in Turkish pediatric inpatients. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 996 inpatients aged 1 to 16 years. The prevalence of malnutrition was 31.8%. The PNST identified 28.7% (original cutoffs) and 62.6% (adjusted cutoffs) of patients as at risk, whereas PYMS categorized 44.3% as at high risk of malnutrition. The sensitivity of PNST with original cutoffs (52.1%) was lower than that of PYMS (85.2%) and PNST with adjusted cutoffs (83.3%), especially for acute malnutrition (67.6% vs 95.3% and 94.6%, respectively). Considering the importance of early identification and treatment of malnutrition, PYMS and PNST with adjusted cutoffs may be useful as a screening tool in this population.