Hospital-related undernutrition in children: still an often unrecognized and undertreated problem

Aim To evaluate the nutritional status of hospitalized children in Belgian hospitals and to analyse the impact of undernutrition on the degree of weight loss and duration of hospitalization. Methods In each hospital (one tertiary and three secondary hospitals), 100 consecutively hospitalized childre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta Paediatrica 2013-10, Vol.102 (10), p.e460-e466
Main Authors: Huysentruyt, K, Alliet, P, Muyshont, L, Devreker, T, Bontems, P, Vandenplas, Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
Adolescent
Belgium - epidemiology
Body Height
Body Weight
Child
Child, Preschool
Chronic Disease
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Hospital
Hospitalization
Humans
Infant
Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data
Male
Malnutrition
Malnutrition - diagnosis
Malnutrition - epidemiology
Malnutrition - etiology
Malnutrition - therapy
Nutrition Assessment
Nutritional Status
Nutritional Support - utilization
Prevalence
Secondary Care Centers
Tertiary Care Centers
Undernutrition
Weight Loss
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Summary:Aim To evaluate the nutritional status of hospitalized children in Belgian hospitals and to analyse the impact of undernutrition on the degree of weight loss and duration of hospitalization. Methods In each hospital (one tertiary and three secondary hospitals), 100 consecutively hospitalized children were eligible for inclusion. Of these, 379 were included for analysis. Body weight, length and mid‐upper arm circumference were measured at admission and body weight also at discharge. Results The median (range) age was 2.1 (0.8–17) years. On admission, 29 (7.7%) children were chronically malnourished and, depending on the parameter, between 2.4% and 9.8% acutely undernourished, while 12.1% had at least one subnormal parameter. Median (range) duration of hospitalization was four (1–64) days. Median (range) weight change was 0.0% (−15.6% – +13.9%). Weight loss of >2% was significantly (p 
ISSN:0803-5253
1651-2227
DOI:10.1111/apa.12344