Abstract
Background: Early nutritional screening and adequate enteral nutrition for critically ill patients, started 24 hours after admission in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) are accepted to improve health outcomes. Malnutrition prior to admission worsens the prognosis of severely ill children and it will lead to a higher mortality, a longer length of stay, and a higher health cost.
Objective: The main outcome was to investigate the prevalence of hospital malnutrition on admission, discharge, and in-hospital in PICU Sanglah Hospital, Bali during 2015. The secondary outcome was to investigate the association of cost and hospital malnutrition.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in PICU Sanglah Hospital, Bali, from January to December 2015.
Patients and participants: Children aged 1 month to 12 years with complete medical records. We assessed the prevalence of hospital malnutrition using WHO Anthro software or WHO AnthroPlus software.
Results: From January to December 2015, there were 477 patients admitted to the PICU and 456 were enrolled in this study. Malnutrition was observed in 72 patients (15.8%) during PICU admission, 56 (17.2%) during discharged, and only 13 (2.9%) suffered from malnutrition during hospitalization. Multivariate analysis showed that malignancy was the only factor associated with in-hospital malnutrition. Malnutrition during admission and discharge were not associated with an increase in the length of hospital stay. But, in-hospital malnutrition was associated with longer length of stay (3.2 vs 14.0 days, p<0.001), and was associated with additional cost of Rp 5,500,000.
Conclusion: Malnutrition was observed in 72 patients during PICU admission, 56 during discharged and only 13 during hospitalization. Hospital malnutrition was associated with additional cost of Rp 5,500,000.
