Clinical Characteristics Of 214 Cases Of Children With Feeding Difficulties

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics of 214 children with feeding difficulties attending the feeding difficulties outpatient clinic at a tertiary children’s specialty hospital to understand the general profiles of children with feeding difficulties and their manifestations in terms of physical growth,diseases,feeding skills and behavioral problems,to provide reference for early identification,assessment and intervention.Methods: The medical records of a total of 214 children under 6 years of age who attended the feeding clinic at the Department of Pediatrics,Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from 2016.07 to2019.09 were retrospectively analyzed for their demographic characteristics,diseases,nutrition,feeding skills and behavioral problems.Results: 214 children were mainly under 1 year old(158/214,73.4%),75 cases of low birth weight(75/214,35.0%),80 cases of small than gestational age(80/214,37.4%),and 42 cases of preterm birth(42/214,19.6%);The most common causes were malnutrition and disease under 1 year old,feeding skills and behavioral problems above 1 year old.A total of 73.8%(158/214)were malnourished and 57.0%(122/214)had diseases,with cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal diseases being the most common,36 children had two or more diseases,and the incidence of malnutrition and behavioral problems was higher in children with cardiopulmonary diseases;feeding skill disorders were often accompanied by gastrointestinal diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders;children with inherited metabolic diseases were more likely to have malnutrition;children without diseases were more likely to have feeding behavior problems.In the four areas of malnutrition,disease,feeding skill disorders and behavioral problems,64.5%(138/214)had a combination of two or more conditions,the most common of which were malnutrition-disease(58/138,42.0%),malnutrition-disease-feeding skill disorders(30/138,21.7%),malnutrition-feeding skill disorders(15/138,10.9%),and malnutrition-feeding skill disorders(15/138,10.9%).138,10.9%),and malnutrition-behavior problems(15/138,10.9%).Conclusion: Feeding difficulties are more common in infants,and the prevalence of organic diseases in children with feeding difficulties is high,among which gastrointestinal and cardiopulmonary diseases are the most common.Feeding difficulties in children often have multiple manifestations co-existing,are complex and heterogeneous,requiring a unified concept and diagnostic criteria,attention to disease identification and treatment,to promote multidisciplinary cooperative management.