Economic evaluation of pediatric clinical nutrition intervention: A real-world study from the national children's medical center
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GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
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PUBLIC SUMMARY
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Each Chinese Yuan (CNY) in nutritional support saves up to 13.70 CNY in total medical costs.
Neonates and patients with nosocomial infections are the core nutritional intervention beneficiaries.
The enteral nutrition intervention subgroup had lower total costs and shorter hospital stays.
This study provides evidence for individualized nutrition planning and medical resource optimization.
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ABSTRACT
Pediatric inpatients are at high risk of malnutrition, which impairs their disease recovery and increases the healthcare burden, while current research remains limited in integrating treatment standardization with cost-effectiveness. We aimed to evaluate the economics benefits of pediatric nutritional interventions during hospitalization, to provide evidence for the optimal allocation of clinical nutrition resources. A retrospective observational study design was conducted, enrolling over 100,000 hospitalized children from the national pediatric medical center during 2023-2024. Participants were divided into a nutritional intervention group and a non-nutritional intervention group. Data were collected from electronic medical records and clinical nutrition information system. Primary analysis methods included propensity score matching (PSM), cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis. Baseline characteristics were well-balanced after matching, with all standardized mean difference (SMD) < 0.1. Nutritional interventions yielded significant benefits in specific populations such as neonates and children with nosocomial infections, where a 1-CNY investment in nutrition could save 9.56-13.70 CNY in total costs. Enteral nutrition outperformed parenteral nutrition in most subgroups. Although the total cost in the nutritional intervention group increased more, nutrition-related costs accounted for only 3.03% of the total incremental medical cost. Significant differences were revealed between the nutritional intervention group and the non-nutritional intervention group in terms of medical costs and health outcomes. There was significant subgroup heterogeneity in cost-saving, particularly among neonates and children with nosocomial infections. This study clarified the health economics positioning of pediatric nutritional interventions, providing evidence for clinical precision nutrition and optimal medical resource allocation. -
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REFERENCES
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Su D., Weng Z., Yuan J., et al. (2026). Economic evaluation of pediatric clinical nutrition intervention: A real-world study from the national children's medical center. The Innovation Nutrition 1:100016. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-nutri.2026.100016
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Su D., Weng Z., Yuan J., et al. (2026). Economic evaluation of pediatric clinical nutrition intervention: A real-world study from the national children's medical center. The Innovation Nutrition 1:100016. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-nutri.2026.100016
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Figure 1.
Total medical expenses for hospitalized pediatric patients.
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Figure 2.
Relationship between nutritional risk screening scores and total hospitalization costs (Violin Plot-Correlation Composite Plot)
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Figure 3.
Distribution of Z-scores for anthropometric growth status of hospitalized pediatric patients.
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Figure 4.
Comparison of serum hemoglobin and albumin levels before and after hospitalization, along with distribution of change values.
