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Pediatric ICU and Nutritional Assessments

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Diet and Nutrition in Critical Care

Abstract

The nutritional assessment of children in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is unique in view of the metabolic changes of the underlying disease. The presence of inflammatory activity leads to body composition changes (lean mass reduction) and undernutrition. Nutritional assessment is one of the main aspects of the pediatric intensive care patient and is the most important tool to avoid hospital undernutrition. It must prioritize anthropometric and laboratory markers that can differentiate body composition to detect specific macronutrient and micronutrient deficiencies and assessment of the inflammatory activity. There is currently no gold standard for nutritional assessment in the PICU. The results of anthropometric and laboratory markers must be jointly analyzed but individually interpreted according to disease and metabolic changes, in order to reach a correct diagnosis of the nutritional status and to plan and monitor the nutritional treatment.

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Abbreviations

AAP:

American Academy of Pediatrics

AC:

Arm circumference

AFA:

Arm fat area

AGA:

Appropriate for gestational age

AMA:

Arm muscle area

ARA:

Arachidonic acid

BMI/A:

Body mass index for age

DHA:

Docosahexaenoic acid

DRI:

Dietary Reference Intakes

ELBW:

Extremely low birth weight

ESPEN:

European Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition

ESPGHAN:

European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

FAO:

Food and Agriculture Organization

GA:

Gestational age

H:

Height

H/A:

Height for age

HC:

Head circumference

ICU:

Intensive care unit

L:

Length

LBW:

Low birth weight

MUAC:

Mid-upper arm circumference

PICU:

Pediatric intensive care unit

SGA:

Small for gestational age

TST:

Triceps skinfold thickness

VLBW:

Very low birth weight

W:

Weight

W/A:

Weight for age

W/H:

Weight for height

WB:

Weight birth

WHO:

World Health Organization

Z:

Score Z

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Avenue Dr Eneas de Carvalho Aguiar 647, CEP, 05403-000, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Rubens Feferbaum

  2. Division of Nutrition, Nutritional Team of Instituto da Criança do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Patrícia Zamberlan

Authors
  1. Rubens Feferbaum
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  2. Patrícia Zamberlan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rubens Feferbaum .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Free London Hospitals, Barnet General Hospital, London, UK

    Rajkumar Rajendram

  2. Division of Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Rajkumar Rajendram

  3. King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Rajkumar Rajendram

  4. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Division of Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Victor R. Preedy

  5. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, University of Westminster, London, UK

    Vinood B. Patel

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Feferbaum, R., Zamberlan, P. (2015). Pediatric ICU and Nutritional Assessments. In: Rajendram, R., Preedy, V.R., Patel, V.B. (eds) Diet and Nutrition in Critical Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7836-2_69

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7836-2_69

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7837-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7836-2

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