METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited children below 18 years old admitting into general paediatric ward in a public hospital. The PNST and Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA) were performed on 100 children (64 boys and 36 girls). The objective measurements include anthropometry (z-scores for weight, height and body mass index), dietary history and biochemical markers were measured. These were used to classify malnutrition as per Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics/American Society of Parental and Enteral Nutrition (AND/ASPEN) Consensus Statement for identification of paediatric malnutrition and WHO growth standards for children. Cohen's kappa was computed to report the level of agreement.
RESULTS: The PNST identified 57% of hospitalized children as being at risk of malnutrition. In this study, there was a stronger agreement between PNST with AND/ASPEN malnutrition classification (k = 0.602) as when PNST was compared with WHO (k = 0.225) and SGNA (k = 0.431). The PNST shows higher specificity (85.29%) and sensitivity (78.79%) when compared with AND/ASPEN than with WHO malnutrition criteria (55.81% specificity and 66.67% sensitivity).
CONCLUSION: This study showed the usefulness of routine use of PNST for screening the malnutrition risk of hospitalized children in Malaysian tertiary hospital settings.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the use of Subjective Global Nutrition Assessment (SGNA) as a nutrition assessment tool for children with IDD in comparison to the anthropometric indicators.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in local community settings. IDD included in this study were autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Down syndrome (DS) and cerebral palsy (CP). SGNA and anthropometry measurements including weight, height, mid-upper arm circumference and triceps skinfolds were performed on 93 children with IDD (40 ASD, 26 DS and 27 CP) aged 5-18 years. Cohen's Kappa, sensitivity, specificity and its 95% confidence interval were calculated between SGNA and anthropometric indicators for the agreement in determining malnutrition status of the children.
RESULTS: SGNA identified a lower prevalence of malnutrition in children with IDD in comparison to the use of anthropometric indicators. SGNA obtained a moderate-to-fair agreement (above 80% agreement, except height-for-age parameter) and sensitivity (25.71-59.09%) against the use of a single anthropometric indicator in identifying the malnutrition status of the children.
CONCLUSIONS: The use of SGNA as an adjunct to body mass index-for-age as an anthropometric measurement for diagnosing malnutrition in children and adolescents with IDD is recommended.