title: Hospital-related undernutrition in children: still an often unrecognized and undertreated problem.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the nutritional status of hospitalized children in Belgian hospitals and to analyse the impact of undernutrition on the degree of weight loss and duration of hospitalization.
  
  
  METHODS
  In each hospital (one tertiary and three secondary hospitals), 100 consecutively hospitalized children were eligible for inclusion. Of these, 379 were included for analysis. Body weight, length and mid-upper arm circumference were measured at admission and body weight also at discharge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median (range) age was 2.1 (0.8-17) years. On admission, 29 (7.7%) children were chronically malnourished and, depending on the parameter, between 2.4% and 9.8% acutely undernourished, while 12.1% had at least one subnormal parameter. Median (range) duration of hospitalization was four (1-64) days. Median (range) weight change was 0.0% (-15.6% - +13.9%). Weight loss of >2% was significantly (p < 0.05) more prevalent in tertiary (20.0%) than in secondary (10.2%) hospitals. Median hospital duration was 50% longer for chronically malnourished children (6.0 vs 4.0 days; p < 0.01). Only 36 children received a nutritional intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acute undernutrition and chronic undernutrition remain frequent findings in hospitalized children in Belgium. Children with chronic undernutrition had a 50% longer hospital stay. Hospital-related undernutrition is an often unrecognized problem, because only one-third of the acutely malnourished children received nutritional support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, UZ Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huysentruyt
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alliet
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Muyshont
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Devreker
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bontems
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Vandenplas
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D018529:Nutritional Support / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D063728:Secondary Care Centers; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D015431:Weight Loss
keywords: Child; Hospital; Malnutrition; Nutritional status; Undernutrition