Alegra Rifani Masharto, Kohar Hari Santoso, Nancy Margarita Rehatta, Arie Utariani, Bambang Pujo Semedi
Perinatal Journal - 2026;34(1):37-48
Nutritional status is a crucial factor in postoperative recovery, but it is often overlooked in pediatric patients in Indonesia who have a high prevalence of malnutrition. Preoperative malnutrition is known to disrupt the immune response, slow wound healing, and potentially increase morbidity and mortality. However, the specific relationship between nutritional status and clinical outcomes such as length of treatment and mortality in the pediatric surgical population in Indonesia still requires further investigation. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between nutritional status and postoperative treatment duration and surgical outcomes in pediatric patients undergoing general anesthesia for abdominal surgery. This study is an observational analytic study with a cross-sectional design that is retrospective. Secondary data from electronic medical records (EMRs) were taken from 72 pediatric patients (ages 6 months to 18 years) who underwent exploratory laparotomy at Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital during the study period. The independent variable is nutritional status, which is assessed with Body Mass Index (BMI) then classified to the WHO growth curve and albumin serum level. The bound variables were the length of postoperative treatment. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-Square, Mann-Whitney, and binary logistic regression. Nutritional status is a significant independent predictor of postoperative mortality in pediatric exploratory laparotomy patients. The insignificance of the relationship with length of treatment was most likely due to selection bias due to exclusion criteria that excluded patients with severe complications and intensive care need, as well as loss of statistical strength due to categorization of long-term treatment data. These findings confirm the urgency to integrate nutritional status screening, including albumin level measurement, as a standard and mandatory procedure in pre-operative risk evaluation. Proactive nutritional interventions in high-risk patients are essential to improve clinical outcomes and lower mortality.
