BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Infants who live in households experiencing food insecurity are at risk for negative health and developmental outcomes. Despite large numbers of households within our population experiencing food insecurity, identification of household food insecurity during standard clinical care is rare. The objective of this study was to use quality-improvement methods to increase identification of household food insecurity by the second-year pediatric residents working in the Pediatric Primary Care Center from 1.9% to 15.0% within 6 months. A secondary aim was to increase the proportion of second-year pediatric residents identifying food insecurity. METHODS A team was formed to identify key drivers thought to be critical to the process of identifying food insecurity during well-child care. This project addressed 5 key drivers and tested interventions based on these drivers over a 6-month period at a hospital-based primary care site that serves ∼15 000 children from underserved neighborhoods. Tests included implementing an evidence-based electronic screen for food insecurity, educational interventions to improve understanding of food insecurity, empowerment exercises targeting clinicians and families, and gaining buy-in and support from ancillary personnel. RESULTS Implementation of these changes led to an increase in the identification rate of household food insecurity from 1.9% to 11.2% over the 6 months (P <.01). The proportion of residents identifying food insecurity increased from 37.5% to 91.9%(P <.01). CONCLUSIONS Application of quality-improvement methods in a primary care clinic increased ability to effectively screen and positively identify households with food insecurity in this population.

A previously developed and validated predictive nutritional assessment model (Prognostic Nutritional Index) was applied to a heterogenous surgical population. Without knowledge of the then undeveloped PNI, adequate preoperative nutritional repletion (TPN) was provided on clinical indications alone to 50 of 145 patients with the remaining 95 patients receiving no preoperative total parenteral nutrition. Analysis of the two groups found no baseline differences in nutritional status, type and severity of disease and/or operative therapy, and other potentially important variables. In the high-risk stratified group as defined by admission nutritional assessment and calculated PNI (greater than or equal to 50%), adequate preoperative TPN reduced postoperative complications 2.5-fold (p < 0.01), postoperative major sepsis six-fold (p < 0.005) and mortality five-fold (p < 0.01). Clinical "eyeball" evaluation of nutritional status cannot identify high-risk individuals. This nutritional assessment predictive model (PNI) identifies the subset of operative candidates in whom adequate preoperative nutritional support significantly reduces operative morbidity and/or mortality.

Using the WHO Global Database on Child Growth, which covers 87% of the total population of under-5-year-olds in developing countries, we describe the worldwide distribution of protein-energy malnutrition, based on nationally representative cross-sectional data gathered between 1980 and 1992 in 79 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania. The findings confirm that more than a third of the world's children are affected. For all the indicators (wasting, stunting, and underweight) the most favourable situation--low or moderate prevalences--occurs in Latin America; in Asia most countries have high or very high prevalences; and in Africa a combination of both these circumstances is found. A total 80% of the children affected live in Asia--mainly in southern Asia--15% in Africa, and 5% in Latin America. Approximately, 43% of children (230 million) in developing countries are stunted. Efforts to accelerate significantly economic development will be unsuccessful until optimal child growth and development are ensured for the majority.

Hemodialysis patients who had received intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN) during 1991 were identified. These patients were compared with unexposed controls after adjusting for demographic variables, baseline renal diagnosis, diabetic status, serum albumin (ALB), creatinine (CRE), and urea reduction ratio. At lower levels of ALB (< or = 3.4 g/dL), treatment with IDPN was associated with a reduction in the odds of death at 1 year, an effect that became stronger at lower levels of CRE (< or = 8.0 mg/dL). In contrast, treatment with IDPN in patients with normal ALB was associated with increased mortality. Time trend analyses of ALB and CRE demonstrated progressive increases toward pretreatment levels in IDPN recipients that were not evident in control subjects. These time trend data suggest that in undernourished hemodialysis patients, IDPN can effect the serum levels of valid biochemical surrogates of visceral and somatic protein nutrition. Albeit retrospective, the improvement in survival at year's end among patients with ALB < or = 3.4 g/dL suggests that malnutrition and its attendant ill effects in hemodialysis patients may respond to aggressive therapeutic intervention, such as IDPN. These important findings should be prospectively confirmed in a randomized clinical trial.

Decreased dietary protein intake and hemodialysis-associated protein catabolism are among several factors that predispose chronic hemodialysis (CHD) patients to protein calorie malnutrition. Since attempts to increase protein intake by dietary counseling are usually ineffective, intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN) has been proposed as a potential therapeutic approach in malnourished CHD patients. In this study, we examined protein and energy homeostasis during hemodialysis in seven CHD patients at two separate hemodialysis sessions, with and without IDPN administration. Patients were studied 2 hours before, during, and 2 hours following a hemodialysis session, using a primed constant infusion of L-(1-(13)C) leucine and L-(ring-(2)H(5)) phenylalanine. Our results showed that IPDN promoted a large increase in whole-body protein synthesis and a significant decrease in whole-body proteolysis, along with a significant increase in forearm muscle protein synthesis. The net result was a change from an essentially catabolic state to a highly positive protein balance, both in whole-body and forearm muscle compartments. We conclude that the provision of calories and amino acids during hemodialysis with IDPN acutely reverses the net negative whole-body and forearm muscle protein balances, demonstrating a need for long-term clinical trials evaluating IDPN in malnourished CHD patients.

Malnutrition, with its 2 constituents of protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, continues to be a major health burden in developing countries. It is globally the most important risk factor for illness and death, with hundreds of millions of pregnant women and young children particularly affected. Apart from marasmus and kwashiorkor (the 2 forms of protein- energy malnutrition), deficiencies in iron, iodine, vitamin A and zinc are the main manifestations of malnutrition in developing countries. In these communities, a high prevalence of poor diet and infectious disease regularly unites into a vicious circle. Although treatment protocols for severe malnutrition have in recent years become more efficient, most patients (especially in rural areas) have little or no access to formal health services and are never seen in such settings. Interventions to prevent protein- energy malnutrition range from promoting breast-feeding to food supplementation schemes, whereas micronutrient deficiencies would best be addressed through food-based strategies such as dietary diversification through home gardens and small livestock. The fortification of salt with iodine has been a global success story, but other micronutrient supplementation schemes have yet to reach vulnerable populations sufficiently. To be effective, all such interventions require accompanying nutrition-education campaigns and health interventions. To achieve the hunger- and malnutrition-related Millennium Development Goals, we need to address poverty, which is clearly associated with the insecure supply of food and nutrition.

There is a high prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition in patients with chronic renal failure who are undergoing maintenance dialysis therapy. The high prevalence of malnutrition is a potentially serious problem because indexes of protein-energy malnutrition are powerful predictors of mortality in maintenance dialysis patients. Although the data do not prove that improving nutritional intake will reduce mortality, nonrandomized studies suggest that provision of addition amino acids and energy to such patients is associated with reduced mortality. There are many causes for protein-energy malnutrition in maintenance dialysis patients. Among the three most important factors are the nutritional status of the patient before commencing dialysis therapy, inadequate protein and energy intakes after they become dialysis patients, and acute and chronic illnesses. Improving the nutrient intake of maintenance dialysis patients is a challenging task because most chronic renal failure patients with malnutrition are anorectic, and dietary counseling has had limited success at increasing their nutrient intake. Other methods for improving nutritional status in adults, infants, and children with chronic renal failure that have been tried with varying degrees of success include increasing the dose of dialysis and the use of food supplements and tube feeding. Less well-proven techniques for the treatment of protein-energy malnutrition include intradialytic parenteral nutrition. The use of appetite stimulants and such growth factors as rhGH and rhIGF-I are still in the experimental stage.

Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is common in connection with chronic disease and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Because the risk of PEM is related to the degree of illness, the causal connections between malnutrition and a poorer prognosis are complex. It cannot automatically be inferred that nutritional support will improve the clinical course of patients with wasting disorders. We reviewed studies of the treatment of PEM in cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic heart failure, stroke, dementia, rehabilitation after hip fracture, chronic renal failure, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple disorders in the elderly. Several methodologic problems are associated with nutrition treatment studies in chronically ill patients. These problems include no generally accepted definition of PEM, uncertain patient compliance with supplementation, and a wide range of outcome variables. Avail-able treatment studies indicate that dietary supplements, either alone or in combination with hormonal treatment, may have positive effects when given to patients with manifest PEM or to patients at risk of developing PEM. In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, nutritional treatment may improve respiratory function. Nutritional therapy of elderly women after hip fractures may speed up the rehabilitation process. When administered to elderly patients with multiple disorders, diet therapy may improve functional capacity. The data regarding nutritional treatment of the conditions mentioned above is still inconclusive. There is still a great need for randomized controlled long-term studies of the effects of defined nutritional intervention programs in chronically ill and frail elderly with a focus on determining clinically relevant outcomes.

Approximately 5% of Americans over age 65, or 1.5 million individuals, currently reside in the nation's 20,000 nursing homes. The authors present material that lead to three conclusions about this population. First, nutritional deficiencies are common underlying causes of adverse clinical outcomes. Second, nutritional deficiencies are frequently not recognized. Third, opportunities for preventing or correcting undernutrition exist, provided that the significant and reversible nature of the nutrient deficiencies are identified.