Validation of the Screening Tool for the Assessment of Malnutrition in Paediatrics (STAMP) in patients with spinal cord injuries (SCIs)

Abstract

To validate the Screening Tool for the Assessment of Malnutrition in Paediatrics (STAMP) in paediatric spinal cord injuries (SCIs) patients admitted to the tertiary SCI centre. children's baseline clinical data, anthropometric measurements and STAMP score were assessed on admission. The validity of STAMP was assessed by (i) comparison with a full dietetic assessment (criterion validity); (ii) comparison with generic paediatric screening tools: the Paediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS; concurrent validity); and (iii) completion of an additional STAMP to assess inter- and intra-rater reliability. The agreement was assessed using Cohen's κ-statistics. Fifty-one children were screened by STAMP. The prevalence of undernutrition risk was 58.8%. STAMP had moderate agreement with dietitian assessment (κ: 0.507) and a fair agreement with PYMS (κ: 0.314). The STAMP had substantial reliability (inter-rater reliability: κ: 0.752; intra-rater reliability: κ: 0.635). When compared with dietetic assessment as a reference standard, STAMP had a sensitivity of 83.3%, specificity of 66.7% and an overall agreement of 76.5%. The present study shows that undernutrition is common in children with SCI. The STAMP is an acceptable (valid and reliable) tool to identify paediatric SCI patients at risk of undernutrition.