Evoluation of nutritional status of hospitalized patients in pediatric clinic

Malnutrition is an important child health issue in developing countries, including Turkey. The World Health Organization defines malnutrition as a set of pathological syndromes, frequently accompanied by infection, which are mostly seen in infants and children, and although their levels of deficiency may vary, result from a protein-deficient or energy-deficient diet. The prevention of malnutrition, hospital-acquired malnutrition in particular, is very important but this can only be achieved if these patients are diagnosed as early as possible on their admission to hospital. The objective of this study was to examine the nutritional status of children admitted to a hospital, in order to diagnose malnutrition at an early stage, and prevent malnutrition-related complications. On first admission, measurements of the patients included in the study were taken, including their weight, height, head circumference, upper arm circumference, and triceps skinfold thickness. Using these anthropometric measurements, the nutritional status of the patients were evaluated on the basis of weight by age, height by age, weight by height, weight z- score, height z- score, triceps skinfold thickness, body mass index, head circumference and upper arm circumference. The ages of the 1,063 patients who participated in the study varied between two and 18 months old. The average age was 5.70 ± 5.36 months, 604 (56.8%) of the participants were male and 459 (43.2%) were female. Using weight by age (low weight), height by age (short stature) and weight by height (under weight) criteria, malnutrition ratios were found to be 43.1%, 26.2% and 34.5%, respectively. According to weight z- scores, 11.8% of the patients had mild-moderate malnutrition, and 2% had severe malnutrition. Using height z- scores, these ratios were found to be 10% and 4.9%, respectively. Assessments on the basis of triceps skinfold thickness and body mass index showed that 15.8% and 21.1%, respectively, of the cases had malnutrition. Given that malnutrition ratios among children admitted to the hospital are high, it is recommended that every child admitted to a hospital should be checked for malnutrition using all anthropometric measurements, in addition to examinations related to their reason for admission, in order to diagnose and start treating malnutrition at an early stage. Keywords: Hospital, nutritional status, anthropometry, malnutrition