Post-discharge complications and hospital readmissions are associated with nutritional risk and malnutrition status in a cohort of Canadian pediatric patients

Abstract Background This study constitutes a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort aiming to evaluate the potential correlation between nutritional risk and status at admission with the occurrence of post-discharge complications and hospital readmissions in children receiving care at high resou...

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Main Authors: Joëlle Létourneau (Author), Véronique Bélanger (Author), Valérie Marchand (Author), Dana L. Boctor (Author), Mohsin Rashid (Author), Vishal Avinashi (Author), Véronique Groleau (Author), Schohraya Spahis (Author), Emile Levy (Author), Valérie Marcil (Author)
Format: Book
Published: BMC, 2024-07-01T00:00:00Z.
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Summary:Abstract Background This study constitutes a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort aiming to evaluate the potential correlation between nutritional risk and status at admission with the occurrence of post-discharge complications and hospital readmissions in children receiving care at high resource Centres. Methods Data was collected from 5 Canadian tertiary pediatric Centers between 2012 and 2016. Nutritional risk and status were evaluated at hospital admission with validated tools (STRONGkids and Subjective Global Nutrition Assessment [SGNA]) and anthropometric measurements. Thirty days after discharge, occurrence of post-discharge complications and hospital readmission were documented. Results A total of 360 participants were included in the study (median age, 6.1 years; median length of stay, 5 days). Following discharge, 24.1% experienced complications and 19.5% were readmitted to the hospital. The odds of experiencing complications were nearly tripled for participants with a high nutritional risk compared to a low risk (OR = 2.85; 95% CI [1.08-7.54]; P = 0.035) and those whose caregivers reported having a poor compared to a good appetite (OR = 2.96; 95% CI [1.59-5.50]; P < 0.001). According to SGNA, patients identified as malnourished had significantly higher odds of complications (OR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.15-3.20; P = 0.013) and hospital readmission (OR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.12-3.39; P = 0.017) than to those well-nourished. Conclusions This study showed that complications and readmission post-discharge are common, and these are more likely to occur in malnourished children compared to their well-nourished counterparts. Enhancing nutritional care during admission, at discharge and in the community may be an area for future outcome optimization.
Item Description:10.1186/s12887-024-04941-6
1471-2431