Comparison of Pediatric Nutrition Screening Tool (PNST) With the Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS) in Hospitalized Turkish Children

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This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of Pediatric Nutrition Screening Tool (PNST) and Pediatric Yorkhill Malnutrition Score (PYMS) in Turkish pediatric inpatients. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 996 inpatients aged 1 to 16 years. The prevalence of malnutrition was 31.8%. The PNST identified 28.7% (original cutoffs) and 62.6% (adjusted cutoffs) of patients as at risk, whereas PYMS categorized 44.3% as at high risk of malnutrition. The sensitivity of PNST with original cutoffs (52.1%) was lower than that of PYMS (85.2%) and PNST with adjusted cutoffs (83.3%), especially for acute malnutrition (67.6% vs 95.3% and 94.6%, respectively). Considering the importance of early identification and treatment of malnutrition, PYMS and PNST with adjusted cutoffs may be useful as a screening tool in this population.