Validation a new malnutrition screening tool for hospitalized pregnant women in Vietnam

Abstract Background The Vietnamese Obstetric Malnutrition Screening Tool (Obstetric MST) is a questionnaire designed to assess the nutrition status of hospitalized pregnant women. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of this questionnaire among inpatients in Vietnam. Methods 200 pregnant women admitted to the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vietnam from November 2023 to January 2024. Nutritional risk according to Obstetric MST was compared with the FIGO nutrition checklist, the obstetric nutritional risk screening, the composite diagnostic criteria, and the estimated fetal weight. Sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Values (PPV), Negative Predictive Values (NPV), receiver operator characteristics curve, and the best cut-off scores were determined. Interrater reliability was decided to utilize kappa measurements. Results Using Obstetric MST, the optimal cut-off score to identify malnourished pregnant women was one, with 62.5% of patients to be at risk of malnutrition. The percentage agreement between dietitian and nurse was 98.0%, with excellent interrater reliability [kappa value = 0.96 (95% CI 0.94–1.00)]. Obstetric MST had good sensitivity (80.65% − 90.70%), low specificity (40.11% − 45.22%), low PPV (12.80% − 31.20%), and high NPV (92.00% − 97.33%). The area under the curves for Obstetric MST were acceptable (above 0.6). Conclusions The Obstetric MST is a valid and reliable nutrition screening tool for determining malnutrition risk in hospitalized pregnant women.