الفهرس 
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Abstract
Malnutrition during Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) admission is a prevalent comorbidity, and could influence the clinical outcomes of pediatric patients. The present study was aimed to observe the impact of the nutritional status on course, complications, outcomes of sick children who admitted to PICU, Assiut University Children Hospital (AUCH). The study included 160 pediatric patients.
The studied participants were classified into two groups according to the Z score distribution; non-malnourished patients with W/A Z score > -2: < 2, serve as controls (n=72, 45%), and malnourished children with W/A Z score < -2, (n=88, 55%).
Malnutrition was more prevalent among younger aged patients, especially in those aged less than two years. The commonest reasons for PICU admission were acute gastroenteritis and respiratory illness.
Malnourished patients were more likely to suffer from shock, tachycardia, oxygen desaturation, apnia, and anemia compared to matched controls.
The need for ventilatory support and its duration was higher among malnourished group than normal nutrition, but no yet reach statistically significant difference, while the duration of prolonged PICU stay for > 7 days was significantly higher among them. Thus, malnourished patients were about nine times more likely to have prolonged PICU stay (> 7 days) compared to non-malnourished patients. In addition the need for inotropes was significantly higher in malnourished group.
Mortality rate in children with malnutrition was also significantly higher compared to children with normal nutrition (31 children(35.2%) vs. 5 children(6.9%) in both groups respectively.
Thus; based on the finding of the current study we concluded that malnutrition during hospitalization, especially during PICU admission, has a detrimental effect on clinical outcomes and increases healthcare expenses.