OBJECTIVE An accurate assessment of the nutritional status of an infant at birth is very important, since it provides information on early identification of pathological events related to intrauterine growth acceleration or retardation. Anthropometric ratios such as weight/length and mid-arm circumference/head circumference may be used as alternative tools for this purpose. The main objective o...

INTRODUCTION The nutritional state is the independent factor that most influences the post-operational results in elective surgeries. OBJECTIVE to evaluate the influence of the nutritional state on the hospitalization period and on the post-operative complications of patients submitted to abdominal surgery. METHODS prospective study with 99 surgical patients over 18 years of age, submitted ...

BACKGROUND Low serum sodium (Na) has been associated with decreased body mass index and increased cardiovascular mortality in haemodialysis (HD) patients. We examined the relationship between serum Na and selected nutritional parameters of protein energy wasting that are not affected from the hydration status in a cohort of HD patients. METHODS Triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), mid-arm circum...

BACKGROUND Valid and practical methods based on health-related criteria for obesity screening in children and adolescents are not available. Arbitrarily defined body mass index (BMI) cutoffs have been proposed to select adolescents at high risk of developing obesity in adulthood. OBJECTIVE We assessed the usefulness of BMI, triceps skinfold thickness, and upper arm girth for screening for obe...

The present prospective study was carried out to determine dietary fiber and energy intake and nutritional status of children during the treatment of chronic constipation. Twenty-five patients aged 2 to 12 years with chronic constipation were submitted to clinical evaluation, assessment of dietary patterns, and anthropometry before and after 45 and 90 days of treatment. The treatment of chronic...

Sixtynine patients (31 males and 38 females) above the age of 12 years undergoing surgery under general anaesthesia were selected for this study. Thirty percent males and 29% females were depleted, 55% and 37% males and females, respectively, were normal and 13% and 34% males and females, respectively, were obese as indicated by Body-mass index (BMI). Measurement of midarm-muscle-circumference ...

BACKGROUND The negative effects of low birthweight on the later health of children in developing countries have been well studied. However, undertaking programmes to address this issue can be difficult since there is no simple correlation between increasing birthweight and improving child health. In 2005, we published results of a randomised controlled trial in Nepal, in which 1200 women receiv...

OBJECTIVE To describe nutritional status, body composition and lipid profile in children and adolescents receiving protease inhibitors. METHODS Fifty-nine patients, 23 treated with protease inhibitors (group 1) and 36 not using protease inhibitors (group 2). Their dietary intake, anthropometry, bioimpedance analysis and lipid profile variables were measured. RESULTS There was no difference ...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Many patients presenting with tuberculosis (TB) have underlying human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection. Routine HIV testing, however, is not a component of the national TB control programme in India. We sought to derive and validate a clinical prediction rule, based on clinical and laboratory parameters, to identify patients at high risk for HIV co-infection amon...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the performance of Subjective Global Assessment of Nutritional Status (SGA) in diagnosing malnutrition in patients with heart disease. METHODS One hundred and six hospitalized patients (53 with heart failure) completed an SGA questionnaire on their nutritional history (changes in body weight, dietary intake, gastrointestinal symptoms, functional capacity, and diagnosis) a...