Measuring malnutrition and its impact on pediatric surgery outcomes: a NSQIP-P analysis

Large-scale NSQIP-P database analysis (282,056 patients) reveals that preoperative nutritional support dependence, growth stunting, and hypoalbuminemia significantly increase postoperative infection risk in pediatric surgical patients, while wasting shows no association. Findings emphasize the importance of standardized malnutrition screening and preoperative optimization to improve surgical outcomes and enable accurate risk counseling.