title: [Anthropometric evaluation of pediatric patients with non-progressive chronic encephalopathy according to different methods of classification].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To perform anthropometric assessment of patients with quadriplegic, chronic non-progressive encephalopathy, comparing two distinct references of nutritional classification, and to compare the estimated height to the length measured by stadiometer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study including 0-3-year children with quadriplegic, chronic non-progressive encephalopathy in secondary public hospital. Length, weight, arm circumference, triceps skinfold and knee height were measured. The arm muscle circumference and estimated height were calculated. The following relations were evaluated: weight-for-age, length-for-age and weight-for-length, using as reference the charts of the the World Health Organization (WHO) and those proposed by Krick et al.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen children with a mean age of 21 months were evaluated. Assessment of anthropometric indicators showed significant difference between the two classification methods to assess nutritional indicators length/age (p=0.014), weight/age (p=0.014) and weight/length (p=0.001). There was significant correlation between measured length and estimated height (r=0.796, p=0.001). Evaluation of arm circumference and triceps skinfold showed that most patients presented some degree of malnutrition. According to arm muscle circumference, most were eutrophic.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Specific curves for children with chronic non-progressive encephalopathy appear to underestimate malnutrition when one takes into account indicators involving weight. Curves developed for healthy children can be a good option for clinical practice and weight-for-length indicator and body composition measurements should be considered as complementary tools.
authors.affiliation: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. Electronic address: jessicasocas@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jéssica Socas
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.affiliation: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Mirian Martins
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Gomes
mesh_terms: D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000145:classification*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male
keywords: Anthropometry; Antropometria; Avaliação nutricional; Cerebral palsy; Child; Criança; Estado nutricional; Nutrition assessment; Nutritional status; Paralisia cerebral