Nutritional Screening for 2-5 Years Old Children in Urban and Rural Outpatient Settings

Abstract Background: Malnutrition in children is common globally and may result in both short-and long-term irreversible negative health outcomes. Conventional indices fall short of portraying the full consequence of under-nutrition in the population. Screening Tool for Assessment of Malnutrition in Pediatric (STAMP) is another nutritional assessment tool which was created to solve this dilemma. Aims of Study: This study was designed to detect any deviation of nutritional status of children from 2-5 years in outpatient clinic of rural and urban areas using conventional indices (weight for age, height for age and BMI), and the newly developed STAMP. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 135 children aged 2-5 years attended the outpa-tient clinics in three hospitals, Bulaq El-Dakrur General Hospital (urban area), Al-Badrashin Central Hospital and Al-Wahat Al-Bahariya Hospital (rural areas), in Egypt. Weight and height measurements were obtained. Z-scores were cal-culated for weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI. World Health Organization growth charts were used to define underweight, stunted and obese patients and STAMP score was used to assess the risk for nutritional derangements. Dietary recall was also obtained and analyzed. Results: Children were classified as per the conventional indices and STAMP. The prevalence of normal weight, height and BMI were 80%, 59.2% and 37.7% respectively. The prevalence of marginal underweight, marginal stunting and overweight were 17%, 27.4%, and 34% respectively and the prevalence of underweight, stunting and obese were 2.9%, 11.8%, and 28.1% respectively. As per STAMP, 57% of children were at low risk, 17.7% were at intermediate risk and 25.1 % were at high risk of malnutrition. Concerning the difference between urban and rural areas, the prevalence of underweight and stunting in urban district were 0.00% and 6.7% respectively, and in rural district were 4.4% and 14.4% respectively. Conclusion: STAMP offers a valid screening tool for the detection of malnutrition and malnutrition risk in pediatric primary health care setting. It met the requirements of a nutrition screening tool in being quick and easy to use.