Evaluation of a new infant nutrition screening tool (Infant Paediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score) and its applicability in Iran as compared to the United Kingdom

A high prevalence of malnutrition has been reported in paediatric inpatients both in developed and developing countries, using various methodology and criteria. According to national and international guidelines, all inpatients should be screened for risk of malnutrition on admission using a validated screening tool. However, because of the lack of universally accepted definition for malnutrition, there is no consensus on the measures and methods to use for nutritional screening. There is controversy concerning the validity, reliability and practicality of existing paediatric nutrition screening tools. Moreover, current paediatric screening tools have not been designed and validated for infants. The study aimed to: 1) Validate a novel malnutrition screening scheme for infants - the Infant Paediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (iPYMS) and compare its utility in different hospital settings, in UK and Middle East, Iran. 2) Compare the usefulness of various anthropometric measures to predict malnutrition in infants. 3) Determine the factors that correlated with malnutrition in hospitalised infants. 4) Explore the use of body composition measures in sick infants. The Paediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS) had already been developed in Glasgow for use in children admitted to hospital. It utilized four elements that were reported as recognized predictors of the past, present or future nutrition risk. An audit was carried out at the beginning of the PhD course and aimed to evaluate the effect of PYMS on collection of anthropometric measurements in the wards. Findings suggested that introduction of a screening tool improved the acquisition of anthropometry by nursing staff, but their utilization by medical staff remained poor. Method: The Infant Paediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (iPYMS) was developed by the research team. The score encompasses 4 rated steps that similar to those used for older children: weight <2nd and 9thcentile was used as opposed to BMI, and 3 elements concerning the history of nutritional issues. A score of 1 classifies a patient at medium risk and ≥2 or ≥3 indicates high risk. Infants were studied at admission to two tertiary children's hospital, 210 (0-12 months) in Glasgow, UK and 187 (1-12 months) in Tabriz, Iran. Convenience sampling was used to recruit equal number of patients in each risk group. Four researchers recruited the samples for the UK cohort and one for the Iran cohort. The diagnostic accuracy and validity of iPYMS in both cohorts were assessed by comparing the iPYMS nutritional risk with the Paediatric Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA) that determine malnutrition risk and mean skinfolds z-scores (triceps and subscapular) below <-2SD as the benchmark for low fat stores and acute/chronic malnutrition. Discriminant validity was assessed using body composition and anthropometry measurements, with the hypothesis that infants at high risk of malnutrition will have lower fat and possibly lean mass compared with those at low risk. Results: More infants in Iran (32%) were rated as high risk for undernutrition than UK (7%). The diagnostic performance of iPYMS improved with the cut-off ≥ 3, more so in Iran than the UK. In Iran, only, infants who were classified as being at high risk of malnutrition had longer hospital stay. Infants in the iPYMS moderate and high risk groups all had significantly lower mean SD-score for anthropometry. After excluding patients scored high risk based only on low weight z-score (≤-2 SD), the differences in weight and BMI z-scores remained significant. In Iran 76% infants with raised iPYMS had mean skinfolds <-2SD, but only 5% in the UK. The UK infants may thus not actually be malnourished. They may be ill and just at risk of malnutrition. The first step of iPYMS (weight below <9th or 2nd centile) was a strong predictor of malnutrition risk, more so in Iran; in the Iranian cohort, 91% and in the UK 70% of infants above the high risk threshold of ≥ 3 scored as high risk due to the weight below