ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Malnutrition can increase morbidity or mortality and hospitalization may further increase the risk of nutritional deterioration. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of malnutrition and nutritional risk in hospitalized children and to identify any associated factors. METHODS: Nutritional status and risk was defined in 157 hospitalized children using anthropometry and a nutritional risk score (NRS). RESULTS: The frequency of wasted, stunted, overweight and obese children was 4.5%, 8.9%, 15.1% and 10.4% respectively. Half (52.6%) of the undernourished children were aged less than 2 years of age. Forty-eight percent of the overweight or obese children were aged between 10 and 18 years of age. Based on their NRSs, 47.8% of the children assessed were at high risk of nutritional deterioration whereas 28.7% were at no nutritional risk. Children with higher nutritional risk scores had lower weight for age (p=0.02), lower BMI percentiles (p=0.001) and longer hospitalization (p=0.001) than children at no risk. CONCLUSIONS: One quarter of these hospitalized children were overweight or obese. NRSs identified a group of children at increased risk of nutritional deterioration who subsequently had longer hospital stays. Use of NRSs at admission can identify children requiring focused nutritional assessment.
Subject(s)
Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena , Hospitalization , Malnutrition/epidemiology , Adolescent , Anthropometry , Body Height , Body Weight , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Hospitals, Pediatric , Humans , Infant , Interviews as Topic , Length of Stay , Male , Malnutrition/complications , Nutrition Assessment , Nutritional Status , Obesity/epidemiology , Obesity/etiology , Overweight/epidemiology , Overweight/etiology , Prevalence , Risk Factors , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
AIMS: The main aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status of children with newly diagnosed Coeliac disease (CD)with comparison to matched controls. A further aim was to assess relationships between presentation patterns and nutrition in childhood CD. METHODS: The nutritional status of newly diagnosed CD was assessed by anthropometry, Bioelectrical Impedance and serum leptin levels, and contrasted to age and gender matched controls. RESULTS: Twenty-five children with CD (mean age of 8.2 +/- 4.5 years) and 25 control children (mean age 8.1 +/- 4.4.) were enrolled. Thirteen (52%) children with CD had gastrointestinal symptoms with 14 having a family history of CD. At presentation 8.7% were wasted, 4.2% were stunted and 20.8% overweight, although none were obese. Mean height and weight for age, other nutritional parameters and serum leptin did not differ between the groups. Serum leptin correlated with BMI in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Children with CD more commonly present with atypical symptoms than with classical features. Variations in nutrition (under to overnutrition) may be seen at diagnosis, without relationship to the presence of symptoms. Leptin levels were not altered specifically in the setting of CD. Nutritional assessment remains important in the assessment and management of CD in children.