The following is a summary of “A Cross-Sectional Study of Pediatric Feeding Disorder in Children with Cystic Fibrosis,” published in the December 2023 issue of Pediatrics by Bashir, et al.

No one knows for sure how many children with cystic fibrosis (CF) have trouble eating. Pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) is when a child doesn’t eat enough and has problems with their health, diet, social life, or eating skills. The Researchers thought that PFD was common in people with CF and wanted to group children with CF who have eating problems into different groups based on their symptoms. A cross-sectional monitoring study was done on kids with CF. 

Among the things that were gathered were anthropometrics, nutrition data (such as the need for tube feeding or enteral nutrition [EN] or high-energy drinks, dietary diversity), feeding skills (the pediatric version of the Eating Assessment tool [pEAT]), and psychosocial function (the About Your Child’s Eating questionnaire [AYCE] for kids 2–17 years old and the Behavioral Pediatric Feeding Assessment Scale [BPFAS] for kids 12–23 months old). A person had poor oral intake if they had a pEAT score of 5 or more; an AYCE or BPFAS score that was more than 2 standard deviations above the normative controls; and/or nutrition dysfunction (body mass index/weight-for-length z score < −1 and/or preference for oral high-energy drinks or dependence on EN and/or less dietary diversity).

The study looked at 103 kids. Of those, 62 (60.1%) had PFD, 7 (6.8%) were poor, 10 (9.7%) needed EN, and 30 (29.1%) needed oral high-energy drinks. 42 children (41.5%) had less variety in their diets, one child had trouble eating, and 11 children (10.8%) met the standards for psychological problems. Almost two-thirds of kids with CF have PFD, and a lot of them don’t eat a variety of foods. A big chunk of kids depend on EN and oral vitamins, but psychological disorders aren’t as common.

Source: journals.lww.com/jpgn/abstract/2023/12000/a_cross_sectional_study_of_pe