The Prevalence of Malnutrition and Effectiveness of STRONGkids Tool in the Identification of Malnutrition Risks among Pediatric Surgical Patients

Abstract

Background: High prevalence of malnutrition along with the riskfor the development of malnutrition in hospitalised children has beenreported. However, this problem remains largely unrecognised byhealthcare workers.Aims: To determine the prevalence of malnutrition and effectivenessof STRONGkids nutritional risk screening (NRS) tool in the identificationof malnutrition risk among pediatric surgical patients.Study Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: A total of 494 pediatric surgical patients (median age 59months, 75.8% males) were included in this prospective study conductedover 3 months. SD-scores