Nutritional status at the time of admission among patients admitted to a tertiary-care paediatric hospital

Abstract

To analyze the nutrition status of the pediatric patients at the time of hospital admission throughout a calendar year in a tertiary level hospital and to identify those patients and/or groups of pathologies with a higher risk of malnutrition. Retrospective evaluation of nutrition status of 852 patients hospitalized in 2013 in a pediatric hospital (462 males and 390 females). Sex, age, body mass index at the moment of admission and days of hospitalization and diagnosis codified according to the International Classification of Diseases were registered. The prevalence of malnutrition patients registered at the moment of admission was 8.2%. Excess body weight (overweight and obesity) was detected in 18% of the patients. The diseases of the nervous system (22.9%), together with the diseases of the respiratory system, the infectious diseases (18.6%), the congenital malformations (11.4%) and the diseases of the genitorurinary system (8.6%) account for 84.4% of the cases with malnutrition. The overall prevalence rate for malnutrition in pediatric patients at the moment of admission in our hospital was 8.2%, being this figure similar to those published in occidental countries. It should be mandatory to accomplish an initial screening and follow up during hospitalization of younger patients and those suffering from diseases of the nervous and/or respiratory system and, especially, from congenital diseases.