Keywords
Child
Hospitalized
Nutritional status
Length of stay
Pediatrics
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Abstract
Objective: To characterize the sociodemographic and clinical profile of hospitalized children, evaluate nutritional screening implementation, and assess its association with length of stay. Methods: Cross-sectional, observational, retrospective study analyzing 180 medical records of children aged 0–5 years admitted to a pediatric hospital in Paraíba, Brazil. Data were collected and analyzed using Mann–Whitney test and multivariate linear regression. Results: The sample was predominantly male (60%), with a median age of 19 months. Most children were eutrophic (73.3%). Pneumonia (32.2%) and urinary tract infection (15.6%) were the main causes of hospitalization. Nutritional screening coverage was 11.7%. Median length of stay was 6 days. Female sex (+1.88 days) and nutritional screening (+2.91 days) were associated with longer hospitalization. Conclusion: Children presented a profile characterized by male predominance, median age of 19 months, mostly eutrophic status, and hospitalizations mainly due to pneumonia and urinary tract infection. Nutritional screening was poorly implemented and, along with female sex, was associated with longer hospital stay.
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