Screening Tool for Risk on Nutritional Status and Growth (STRONGkids-4)

Description

The STRONGkids-4 (Screening Tool for Risk on Nutritional Status and Growth) is a brief pediatric nutritional screening tool used to identify children at risk of malnutrition or deterioration in nutritional status, particularly in hospital settings.

The tool assesses clinical and nutritional factors associated with increased nutritional risk, including the child’s underlying condition, food intake, weight loss or inadequate weight gain, and the presence of disease-related nutritional risk.

Objective

The main objective of STRONGkids-4 is the early identification of pediatric patients who may require further nutritional assessment, monitoring, or intervention.

Its use can support timely recognition of nutritional risk and contribute to appropriate nutritional care planning and growth monitoring.

Scoring

STRONGkids-4 is based on the assessment of several nutritional risk indicators, which are combined to produce an overall nutritional risk score.

According to the total score, children can be classified into different levels of nutritional risk, helping healthcare professionals determine whether further nutritional assessment, monitoring, or intervention is required.

Data Analysis

In research settings, statistical analysis may include descriptive statistics, comparisons between nutritional risk categories, and associations with clinical indicators such as body weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), length of hospital stay, disease severity, and other relevant health outcomes.

References

Hulst, J. M., Zwart, H., Hop, W. C., & Joosten, K. F. M. (2010). Dutch national survey to test the STRONGkids nutritional risk screening tool in hospitalized children. Clinical Nutrition, 29(1), 106–111.

Joosten, K. F. M., & Hulst, J. M. (2011). Nutritional screening tools for hospitalized children: Methodological considerations. Clinical Nutrition, 30(3), 302–308.

Hulst, J. M., et al. (2010). Malnutrition in critically ill children: From admission to 6 months after discharge. Clinical Nutrition.