Interest of a Visual Scale for Evaluating Food Portions as a Screening Tool for Nutritional Risk in Pediatrics

HAS defines undernutrition as a state of nutritional imbalance, characterized by a negative energy and/or protein balance. This negative balance may be linked to a deficit in isolated intake and/or an increase in energy and/or protein expenditure.

In current practice, there are various nutritional risk scores and diagnostic tools which are used in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Practitioners can use discs to quickly and easily determine BMI, which corresponds to the ratio of Weight (Kg) / Height² (m). However, in some cases, these tools cannot be used due to lack of data.

That's why a tool that doesn't require any anthropometric parameters could be useful to for medical and paramedical staff. In this way, a larger proportion of the paediatric population could benefit from nutritional screening.

In adults, a visual food intake scale exists and has been validated for screening for nutritional risk. The hypothesis of this study is that the visual food intake scale could be a good tool for screening for nutritional risk in paediatrics

Inclusion criteria

• Child able to be weighed and measured
• Family with Internet access and telephone number
• Child and at least one parent present during day hospitalization,
• Child able to respond to the SEFI® scale and having completed the 3-day food intake at home

Exclusion criteria

• Children and/or parents with comprehension and/or communication difficulties
• Children with any pathological condition making interpretation of results difficult from the investigator's point of view
• Children receiving nutritional support: enteral and parenteral nutrition.
• Child with nutritional follow-up