Prevalence of child malnutrition at a university hospital using the World Health Organization criteria and bioelectrical impedance data

Abstract

Malnutrition constitutes a major public health concern worldwide and serves as an indicator of hospitalized patients’ prognosis. Although various methods with which to conduct nutritional assessments exist, large hospitals seldom employ them to diagnose malnutrition. The aim of this study was to understand the prevalence of child malnutrition at the University Hospital of the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São, Brazil. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to compare the nutritional status of 292 hospitalized children with that of a healthy control group (n=234). Information regarding patients’ weight, height, and bioelectrical impedance (i.e., bioelectrical impedance vector analysis) was obtained, and the phase angle was calculated. Using the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, 35.27% of the patients presented with malnutrition; specifically, 16.10% had undernutrition and 19.17% were overweight. Classification according to the bioelectrical impedance results of nutritional status was more sensitive than the WHO criteria: of the 55.45% of patients with malnutrition, 51.25% exhibited undernutrition and 4.20% were overweight. After applying the WHO criteria in the unpaired control group (n=234), we observed that 100.00% of the subjects were eutrophic; however, 23.34% of the controls were malnourished according to impedance analysis. The phase angle was significantly lower in the hospitalized group than in the control group (P<0.05). Therefore, this study suggests that a protocol to obtain patients’ weight and height must be followed, and bioimpedance data must be examined upon hospital admission of all children.

The Effect of Malnutrition on the Risk of Unplanned 7-Day Readmission in Pediatrics

“…5,7 The model also identified known risk factors for readmission, such as LOS, acute and/or emergent admission, comorbidities, and ED visits, with effect sizes comparable to those found in other studies. 32 The prevalence of malnutrition in 4.7% of the sample of patients in this study is lower than most reported estimates, [8][9][10] but such comparisons are difficult because of differences in how malnutrition may be assessed across different institutions. In our study, we used the recommendations of ASPEN, 2013 for the definition and diagnosis of malnutrition.…”

“…6 Worldwide, the prevalence of pediatric malnutrition of hospitalized patients in developed countries has been estimated at 5% to 27%, depending on the criteria used. [7][8][9][10] On the other hand, there has been an abundance of reports over the last several years in regard to pediatric readmissions, their prevalence, causes, metrics, and preventability. [11][12][13][14][15] Malnutrition has not been specifically addressed as a factor in any of the reports.…”

Bioelectrical Impedance Phase Angle as an Indicator of Malnutrition in Hospitalized Children with Diagnosed Inflammatory Bowel Diseases—A Case Control Study

“…Thus, growth and nutritional status in pediatric patients with IBD should be considered in terms of body composition rather than a simple anthropometric change [ 34 ]. In their cross-sectional study, Pileggi et al demonstrated that PhA is a sensitive method for identifying malnutrition risk at hospital admission and monitoring nutritional status of children during hospitalization [ 35 ].…”

Phase angle and World Health Organization criteria for the assessment of nutritional status in children with osteogenesis imperfecta

“…Data on weight and bioelectrical impedance were collected according to international procedures 10. The height/length was measured, in some cases, on the patients' own bed, as they were unable to remain in the standing position ( n =6).…”