The prevalence of malnutrition in a pediatric hospital of Tabriz City, Iran, in 2016

Malnutrition is a disorder that results from reduction or imbalance in the absorption of food and energy. It leads to prolongation of hospitalization and increased mortality in patients. Screening reduces the costs, complications, and duration of hospitalization. We have tried to evaluate the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized children in Tabriz Pediatric Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, and review the validity of the standard questionnaire of Iran Ministry of Health for pediatric malnutrition.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 400 patients were examined. All patients were screened for malnutrition status in the first 24 hours, using a primary nutritional assessment form. Patients were divided into two categories: no malnutrition or mild malnutrition and moderate to severe malnutrition. SPSS software was used to analyze the data.

Of the 400 admitted and studied patients, 238 patients were in the age range of 1 to 60 months (group I) and 162 patients were in the age range of 5 to 19 years (group II). In group I, 11 patients were diagnosed with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is defined as weight for height of less than -3 Z-score, which means that 7 cases of patients (2.9%) had severe malnutrition or severe weight loss. In group II, there were 20 patients (12.3%) among a total of 162 patients who were overweight, and 10 patients (6.2%) were obese.

The results of this study differed from previous studies. Therefore, it is recommended that the Ministry of Health questionnaire be reconsidered, and a restudy is necessary.