title: Incorrect evaluation of the frequency of malnutrition and of its screening in hospitalized children by health care professionals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Malnutrition screening is essential to detect and to treat patients with stunting or wasting. The aim was to evaluate the subjective perception of frequency and assessment of malnutrition by health care professionals.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a paediatric university hospital, a cross-sectional survey was conducted with a Likert scale approach to health care professionals and compared with objective measurements on a given day of frequency of malnutrition and of its screening.
  
  
  RESULTS
  279 health care professionals participated. The malnutrition rate, estimated versus measured, was 16.8% and 34.8%, respectively. Conversely, the estimated frequency of malnutrition screening versus measured frequency was 80.6% versus 43.1%, respectively. Furthermore, the perception of health care professionals did not differ depending on their professional category or speciality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, health care staff underestimates the prevalence of malnutrition in children by half and overestimates the frequency of appropriate screening practices for detection of malnutrition. This flawed/unreliable perception may disrupt both screening and the management of malnourished children. There is an urgent need to find out the reasons behind these errors caused by subjective perception in order to develop appropriate educational training to remedy the situation.
authors.affiliation: Pédiatric Hepato-Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant de Lyon, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Lioara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Restier
authors.affiliation: Pôle Information Médicale Evaluation Recherche, Lyon, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.|EA Santé-Individu-Société, Université de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Duclos
authors.affiliation: Pédiatric Hepato-Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant de Lyon, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jarri
authors.affiliation: Pole Information Médicale Evaluation Recherche, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Touzet
authors.affiliation: Pole Information Médicale Evaluation Recherche, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Angelique
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Denis
authors.affiliation: Pole Information Médicale Evaluation Recherche, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Occelli
authors.affiliation: Service de Pharmacologie Clinique, Hôpital Louis Pradel, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.|INSERM CIC 201, EPICIME, CNRS, UMR5558, Université de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Behrouz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kassai-Koupai
authors.affiliation: Pédiatric Hepato-Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant de Lyon, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lachaux
authors.affiliation: Pédiatric Hepato-Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant de Lyon, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Loras-Duclaux
authors.affiliation: Pole Information Médicale Evaluation Recherche, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Cyrille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Colin
authors.affiliation: Pédiatric Hepato-Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant de Lyon, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.|INSERM U1060, CarMen Laboratory, Université de Lyon, Lyon, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Noel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peretti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence
keywords: evaluation; medical research; public health