Clinical performance of the infant nutrition early warning score in routine practice across four international clinical settings in Europe: a study by the ESPGHAN special interest group in clinical malnutrition

Bamkole, O., Huysentruyt, K., Watson, J., De Mulder, N., Katsagoni, C. N., Chaloutsi, D., Kontostavlou, M., Pancheva, R., Vladimirova, I. and Gerasimidis, K. (2024) Clinical performance of the infant nutrition early warning score in routine practice across four international clinical settings in Europe: a study by the ESPGHAN special interest group in clinical malnutrition. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, (doi: 10.1002/jpn3.12123) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

There is a scarcity of nutritional screening tools for use in infants (<1 year). The infant Nutrition Early Warning Score (iNEWS) has been developed to identify infants who need further dietetic review. We introduced the iNEWS into clinical practice and evaluated its performance in Scotland, Belgium, Athens and Bulgaria. Of the 352 infants screened, 72 (20%) were placed in the high iNEWS category, and of these, 70 (97%) were reviewed by a hospital dietitian. iNEWS produced a true positive rate of 80% which increased to 96% after accounting for anticipated misclassified cases due to prematurity. In Belgium, false positive screens had a shorter length of stay (p = 0.014). Otherwise, misclassification was not related to a specific iNEWS component. This study corroborates previous research, underscoring the validity of iNEWS as a dietetic referral tool and demonstrating that it can be integrated into “real-world” clinical practice across international settings with diverse healthcare resources.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Malnutrition, nutritional screening, dietetic referral tool.
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gerasimidis, Professor Konstantinos
• Authors: Bamkole, O., Huysentruyt, K., Watson, J., De Mulder, N., Katsagoni, C. N., Chaloutsi, D., Kontostavlou, M., Pancheva, R., Vladimirova, I., and Gerasimidis, K.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing
• Journal Name: Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 0277-2116
• ISSN (Online): 1536-4801
• Published Online: 14 January 2024
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2024 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 2024
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License