Detection of fetal malnutrition using "CAN score".
OBJECTIVE
Use of clinical assessment of nutrition status (CAN) score to assess the prevalence of fetal malnutrition among term newborns and to compare other anthropometric criteria used to assess fetal growth.


METHODS
Prospective study of 529 term healthy newborns assessed using CAN score. Complete anthropometric assessment and determination of weight for gestation was done. Using CAN score as a standard, the usefulness of birth weight, weight for gestation, length, head circumference (HC), mid arm circumference (MAC), MAC/HC ratio and Ponderal index to assess fetal nutrition was determined.


RESULTS
With a cut off value of 25, CAN score identified 148 (27.97%) malnourished neonates. 4% of appropriate for gestational age neonate were malnourished and 42.9 % of small for gestational age neonates were well nourished. When CAN score was taken as a standard, weight for gestation and MAC/HC had the highest sensitivity to identify malnourished neonates (92.5% & 90.5%).


CONCLUSIONS
CAN score identifies malnourished neonates which can be missed by other methods and identifies well nourished neonates classified as growth retarded by other methods.
Sankhyan
Naveen
N
Department of Pediatrics, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. nsankhyan@rediffmail.com
Sharma
Vijay Kumar
VK
Singh
Surinder
S
D000886:Anthropometry; D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D048070:Fetal Nutrition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity