To assess the prevalence, causes, and consequences of malnutrition, as well as the evolution of nutritional status, in Canadian pediatric health care institutions.

In this multicenter prospective cohort study, a total of 371 patients were recruited from pediatric hospitals in 5 Canadian provinces. Subjects were aged 1 month to 18 years; admitted to a medical, surgical, or oncology ward; and had a planned hospital stay of >48 hours. Data on demographics, medical condition, anthropometric measures, and dietary intake were collected. The Screening Tool Risk on Nutritional Status and Growth (STRONG_kids) and Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA) were applied at admission. Malnutrition was defined as a weight-for-age, height-for-age, body mass index-for-age, or weight-for-length/height z score <-2 SD.

Among 307 subjects (median age, 5.3 years; median length of stay, 5 days), 19.5% were malnourished on admission. Both STRONG_kids and SGNA classifications were associated with baseline nutritional status. Mean weight-for-age z score was lower at discharge compared with admission (-0.14 vs -0.09; P < .01), and nearly one-half of all patients lost weight during their hospital stay. Only one-half of the children who were malnourished or screened as high risk of malnutrition were visited by a dietitian during their stay. The percentage of patients who lost weight during hospitalization was significantly greater in the group not visited by a dietitian (76.5 vs 23.5%; P < .01).

Nutritional status deterioration and malnutrition are common in hospitalized Canadian children. Screening tools, anthropometric measurements, and dietitian consultation should be used to establish adequate nutritional support.