Background:

pediatric malnutrition is one of the main causes of complications in hospitalized children. Nutritional screening at admission is essential. The Screening Tool for the Assessment of Malnutrition in Paediatrics (STAMP) is a simple, reproducible and easy-to-interpret tool, but it is not validated in Mexico. The objective of the study was to validate and adapt the STAMP nutritional screening tool to the Mexican population.

Methods:

the validation was carried out in two phases: firstly, the translation and cultural adaptation was carried out; and secondly, a cross-sectional study was performed comparing the STAMP tool with a complete nutritional assessment (CNA). A pediatrician specialized in nutrition performed the CNA with the evaluation of anthropometric, clinical and dietary parameters; later, two nutritionists carried out the same evaluation with the STAMP tool. Finally, the patients were graded as low risk and moderate or severe malnutrition risk.

Results:

of the 300 patients included in the study, 160 were boys (53.3 %) and 140 were girls (46.7 %), with a mean age of 9.44 ± 5.73 years. The assessments made by with the STAMP tool had a 100 % concordance. Compared with CNA, a kappa index of 0.480 (p < 0.01) was obtained. The STAMP test showed a sensitivity of 92 %, a specificity of 75 %, positive predictive value (PPV) of 45 %, negative predictive value (NPV) of 97 %, RVN of 3,68, and RVN of 0,10.

Conclusions:

the STAMP screening tool has the necessary elements to objectively assess the risk of malnutrition in Mexican children and is a highly sensitive and specific test.

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