Nutrition Assessment in Hospitalized Children

Objective To investigate the nutritional status of hospitalized pediatric patients and to explore the malnutrition prevalence in these children.Methods We prospectively surveyed a total of 2 274 pediatric patients younger than 14 years in three hospitals of Shanghai.Height for age Z-score(HAZ),weight for age Z-score(WAZ),and weight for height Z-score(WHZ)were calculated for evaluation of nutritional status of hospitalized pediatric patients using the WHO anthropometric measurement data for children as reference.All data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software.Results The prevalence of stunting(HAZ-2),underweight(WAZ-2),and wasting(WHZ-2)was 7.1%,5.5%,and 5.2%,while the nutritional risk(-2≤Z-1)was 13.5%,16.8%,and 16.3%,respectively.The pediatric patients with congenital heart diseases had higher prevalences of stunting,underweight,and wasting,and those with urological or orthopedic surgeries had a higher prevalence of stunting.Conclusion The prevalences of stunting,wasting,and underweight in hospitalized children are higher than the common population.Nutrition assessment is recommended for pediatric patients.