Validity of Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score to detect pediatric hospitalized malnutrition

ABSTRACT Introduction: Hospitalized malnutrition in children is a nutritional imbalance that occurs during hospital treatment, regardless the nutritional status at admission. Hospitalized malnutrition can be prevented, with periodic evaluation of nutrition status and early detection of hospital malnutrition. Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS) can be one of the instruments used at Sanglah Hospital to prevent hospital malnutrition. This study aims to know the validity of PYMS to detect hospitalized malnutrition in pediatric patient at Sanglah Hospital. Method: This Study was a prospective cohort study, performed at Sanglah Hospital Denpasar between August and December 2017. The subjects were collected using consecutive sampling method. PYMS was measured when admitted. Hospitalized malnutrition was defined if there is any weight loss during hospitalization. Between August and December 2017, 240 subjects were retained for analysis. Result: The incidence of hospitalized malnutrition was 14.1%. The combined high risk and medium risk of PYMS had 97.1% sensitivity, and 47.1% specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) 23.2% and negative predictive value (NPV) 98.9% for detecting children who are at risk for hospitalized malnutrition. Conclusion: Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score is acceptable for a screening tool, however it also important to ensure to the staff low score does not negate referral for dietetic assessment. Keywords: Hospitalized malnutrition, screening tool, PYMS Cite this Article: Herlianto, B., Sidiartha, I.G.L., Pratiwi, I.G.A.P.E. 2019. Validity of Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score to detect pediatric hospitalized malnutrition. Bali Medical Journal 8(1): 78?82. DOI:10.15562/bmj.v8i1.1299