title: Evaluation of the nutrition screening tool for childhood cancer (SCAN).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Malnutrition is a serious concern for children with cancer and nutrition screening may offer a simple alternative to nutrition assessment for identifying children with cancer who are at risk of malnutrition. The present paper aimed to evaluate the nutrition screening tool for childhood cancer (SCAN).
  
  
  METHODS
  SCAN was developed after an extensive review of currently available tools and published screening recommendation, consideration of pediatric oncology nutrition guidelines, piloting questions, and consulting with members of International Pediatric Oncology Nutrition Group. In Study 1, the accuracy and validity of SCAN against pediatric subjective global nutrition assessment (pediatric SGNA) was determined. In Study 2, subjects were classified as 'at risk of malnutrition' and 'not at risk of malnutrition' according to SCAN and measures of height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and body composition were compared between the groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The validation of SCAN against pediatric SGNA showed SCAN had 'excellent' accuracy (0.90, 95% CI 0.78-1.00; p < 0.001), 100% sensitivity, 39% specificity, 56% positive predictive value and 100% negative predictive value. When subjects in Study 2 were classified into 'at risk of malnutrition' and 'not at risk of malnutrition' according to SCAN, the 'at risk of malnutrition' group had significantly lower values for weight Z score (p = 0.001), BMI Z score (p = 0.001) and fat mass index (FMI) (p = 0.04), than the 'not at risk of malnutrition' group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that SCAN is a simple, quick and valid tool which can be used to identify children with cancer who are at risk of malnutrition.
authors.affiliation: Children's Nutrition Research Centre, Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Electronic address: alexia.murphy@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Alexia J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Melinda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Hematology-Oncology Department and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Unit, Institute for Treatment of Childhood Cancer - Hematology-Oncology Department of Instituto da Criança, Hospital das Clínicas, University of Sao Paulo's Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Viani
authors.affiliation: Food, Nutrition & Dietetics, Didactic Program in Dietetics, Tennessee Technological University College of Agriculture and Human Ecology, Cookeville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Terezie T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Mosby
mesh_terms: D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Cancer; Children; Malnutrition; Nutrition; Nutrition screening; SCAN