Malnutrition in pediatric practice: differential diagnosis and possibilities for nutritional support

Abstract

Nutrition is of great importance in maintaining normal growth and development of the child, ensuring the ability to learn and resistance to adverse environmental factors. Due to the higher need for nutrients, limited nutrient reserves, and particular characteristics of metabolic processes, children are more prone to the development of various nutritional disorders, in particular, protein and energy deficiency. The nutritional factor becomes of great importance on the background of the accompanying acute and chronic diseases in children. The studies convincingly demonstrated that malnutrition leads to a prolongation of hospital stay, increased frequency of complications and increased risk of adverse outcomes. Therefore, timely diagnosis of nutritional disorders is an essential factor in maintaining health and improving the children’s quality of life. The article presents the current classification of malnutritiion, illustrates the main stages of the anthropometric examination, identifies approaches to the differential diagnosis of protein-energy deficiency causes, and discusses the possibilities of nutritional support using specialized mixtures.

Keywords

• nutritional status
• malnutrition
• protein-energy deficiency
• children
• anthropometry
• actual diet
• nutritional support
• sipping
• isocaloric mixtures
• hypercaloric mixtures with dietary fibres