title: Clinical assessment of nutritional status at birth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Clinical assessment of nutritional status of neonate using CAN score and comparison with other methods of determining intrauterine growth.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tertiary care hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  637 consecutive, liveborn singleton neonates with known gestational age and no major congenital malformation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Birth weight, length, midarm circumference and head circumference recorded in newborns. Ponderal index and mid arm to head circumference ratio was calculated. Clinical assessment of nutritional status was done on the basis of CAN score and compared with other methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CAN score < 25 separated 60% of the babies as well nourished and 40% as malnourished. Weight for age and Ponderal Index classified 70-75% of babies as well nourished (AGA) and 25-30% as malnourished. Also MAC/HC classified nearly half the babies as well nourished and half as malnourished.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CAN score may be a simple clinical index for identifying fetal malnutrition and for prediction of neonatal morbidity associated with it, without the aid of any sophisticated equipments.
authors.affiliation: Neonatology Unit of Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tandon
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dua
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumari
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D001724:Birth Weight; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity