Prevalence of Malnutrition in Hospitalized Children

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To identify the prevalence of malnutrition among hospitalized children on admission to hospital and discharge from hospital, to supply a classification of those patients with malnutrition, and to observe their changes in nutritional conditions during their hospital stay. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study comprised 400 children hospitalized in the pediatrics department of our tertiary hospital between August, 2014 and May, 2015, ranging in age from one month to eighteen years. Those patients in the emergency clinic, the pediatric intensive care, those with a birth weight under 2,500 g, premature patients and foreign patients were excluded from this study. At the time of hospitalization, measurements of bodyweight, height, mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness (SST); and at the time of discharge, measurements of the bodyweight were taken. In addition, the patients' age, sex, diagnosis, and length of hospital stay were recorded. RESULTS: The mean age of the 400 patients was 59.2 +/- 61.9 months (median age: 32 months), and 57.8% of the patients were male. According to the Gomez classification, malnutrition was identified in 37.6% of the patients. According to the Waterlow classification, malnutrition was found in 30.8% of the patients at the time of admission and 31.5% at the time of discharge. The mild malnutrition rate decreased from 21% to 20.5%, the moderate malnutrition rate increased from 5.8% to 7.2%, and the severe malnutrition rate decreased from 4% to 3.8% at discharge. Of those patients who did not have acute malnutrition at the time of hospitalization, 4.7% had developed malnutrition by discharge. According to analysis of the MUAC, triceps skinfold thickness (TST), and SST, the patients' respective malnutrition rates were 45%, 16.4%, and 16.8%. According to the MUAC values, 12% of the malnourished patients did not meet the criteria for malnutrition using the Waterlow classification. According to the TST data, 25% of the malnourished patients did not meet the criteria for the Waterlow classification of malnutrition. According to the SST values, 29% of the patients with malnutrition did not have malnutrition according to the Waterlow classification. CONCLUSION: Children in hospitals still have high rates of malnutrition; thus, it is important to check each patient's nutritional condition at the time of admission, periodically throughout hospitalization with detailed analyses, and to begin effective treatment as soon as possible.