Subjective vs objective nutritional assessment study in children: a cross-sectional study in the northwest of Iran

Abstract 

Different methods have been used to assess nutritional status in hospitalized pediatric patients, and there is no agreement on the finest index which reflects nutritional status. The aim of this study was to compare the subjective global assessment (SGA) and objective assessment of nutritional status in hospitalized pediatric patients. One hundred forty children with mean age of 6.43 ± 0.23 years hospitalized consecutively in Tabriz Pediatric Hospital from June to August in 2008 underwent a subjective assessment using the SGA questionnaire and objective assessment (anthropometric and biochemical measurements). An agreement between 2 assessment methods were analyzed by the κ statistic. According to the result of SGA method, the overall prevalence of malnutrition was higher than the objective assessment method. The agreement between the 2 methods were merely fair to moderate (κ = 0.336, P = .000). The linear relationship between 2 methods was also fair to moderate (r = 0.374, P < .05). Our findings indicated that the differences between two evaluated methods in assessing nutritional status of pediatric patients, and it can also detect the changing trend of nutritional status, which may be missed by one-time anthropometry and biochemical methods.

Abbreviations: NRI, nutritional risk index, SGA, subjective global assessment, TSF, triceps skinfold thickness

Keywords: Children, Malnutrition, Nutritional assessment, Objective assessment, Subjective global assessment