Validation and Impact of Paediatric Malnutrition Screening Tool in Hospitalised Children

Validation and Impact of Paediatric Malnutrition Screening Tool in Hospitalised Children on Medical Staff Awareness and Health-Related Outcomes

Children hospitalized due to an acute disease may suffer from acute malnutrition or chronic malnutrition caused by chronic diseases.

We aimed to evaluate the use of the Screening Tool for the Assessment of Malnutrition in Pediatrics (STAMP) among children admitted in a pediatric hospital, and assess its effect on medical staff's awareness to nutritional status and health outcomes at discharge.

Malnutrition prevalence upon admission to paediatric hospitals remains considerably high, ranging from 7.3 to 17.9% in the developed world with higher prevalence rates in infants and toddlers and particularly high rates for specific medical conditions. Several studies have reported deterioration of nutritional status during hospitalization. Screening children for malnutrition risk is recommended by a number of international organizations such as the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), the European Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN) and the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN).

Screening Tool for the Assessment of Malnutrition in Pediatrics (STAMP) was chosen for this study because it is highly applicable, frequently used by nurses and has shown high reproducibility, as well as concurrent and predictive validity. The tool was developed by McCarthy et al11 in England. It collects the following information to assess nutritional risk for a patient: discrepancy between the weight and height percentile weight for the age expected nutritional risk caused by clinical diagnosis, recent changes in the appetite. The assessment results are used to define if there is a need for a referral to a full nutritional assessment.

We aimed to evaluate the use of the Screening Tool for the Assessment of Malnutrition in Pediatrics among children admitted in a pediatric hospital, and assess its effect on medical staff's awareness to nutritional status and health outcomes at discharge.

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients hospitalized during the study,
• patients hospitalized for more than 24 hours. The children will be enrolled from 3 internal medicine and surgical departments, children's parents will give their consent and will be able to understand and sign the consent forms

Exclusion Criteria:

• children < 1 year of age,
• children > 17 years of age,
• children hospitalized for less than 24 hours,
• children in the intensive care unit or following hospitalization in the intensive care unit.

Statistical analysis for STAMP validation will be performed using Kappa (K) test. Chi square test will be used in order to calculate the effect of STAMP use