Features of the nutritional status in children with spinal cord injury at the early stages of recovery

Introduction. Spinal cord injury, like any severe injury, triggers a cascade of metabolic reactions leading to an increased demand for macronutrients. Untimely correction of nutritional losses leads to significant weight loss in the patient, and as a result, to an increase in the number of alimentary-dependent complications.

Materials and methods. The study included fifty spinal cord injury (SCI) children, aged of 7–18 years admitted to the Clinical and Research Institute of Emergency Pediatric Surgery and Trauma in Moscow within the first month after injury. All patients from the moment of admission and over the next 6 months had a dynamic monitoring of their nutritional status. It included examination of anthropometric and laboratory parameters, and examination of the state of component composition of plegic limbs using MR scanning on a high-field (1.5 T) Toshiba MR tomograph.

Results. The screening performed has revealed a risk of nutritional deficiency in all SCI patients. The findings were obtained indicating that in the majority of children of this category significant malnutrition had developed by the first month after the injury. Subsequently, it caused tissue imbalance in muscles of the plegic limbs. The timely correction of nutritional losses with special mixtures and standard diet products has stabilized the progressive weight loss and prevented complications associated with insufficient alimentation.

Conclusion. A regular comprehensive assessment of nutritional status is the basis for determining adequate nutritional support and diet for SCI children.

Contribution:
Ponina I.V. — concept and design of the study;
Ponina I.V., Novosyolova I.N., Popova O.V. — collection and processing of material;
Lukyanov V.A. — statistical processing of the material;
Ponina I.V., Novosyolova I.N. — writing text;
Akhadov T.A., Bozhko O.V. — analysis of MRI results;
Novosyolova I.N. — editing;
Valiullina S.A. — general management of the study, editing, conclusion of the manuscript for publication.
All co-authors — approval of the final version of the article, responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article.

Acknowledgment. The study was supported by a grant from the Government of Moscow «Diffuse-tensor imaging (DTT) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the spinal cord in clinical practice (normal and spinal cord injury») (project No. 2112-9) and «System of integrated rehabilitation of children with acute traumatic injuries based on an organizational model using innovative medical convergent technologies» (project No. 2412-9).

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest. 

Received: September 05, 2022
Accepted: September 20, 2022
Published: October 31, 2022

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