Pediatric Feeding Disorder

TLDR

Pediatric feeding disorders lack a universally accepted definition and are often defined from a single discipline, neglecting the medical, psychosocial, feeding skill, and nutritional domains that are essential for comprehensive assessment and treatment. The study proposes the term “Pediatric Feeding Disorder” (PFD) as a unifying diagnosis for impaired oral intake that is not age‑appropriate and is linked to medical, nutritional, feeding skill, and psychosocial dysfunction. The authors employ the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health framework to develop these diagnostic criteria. The proposed criteria aim to better characterize heterogeneous patient needs, foster multidisciplinary treatment planning, and promote consistent terminology to advance clinical practice, research, and health‑care policy.

Abstract

Pediatric feeding disorders (PFDs) lack a universally accepted definition. Feeding disorders require comprehensive assessment and treatment of 4 closely related, complementary domains (medical, psychosocial, and feeding skill-based systems and associated nutritional complications). Previous diagnostic paradigms have, however, typically defined feeding disorders using the lens of a single professional discipline and fail to characterize associated functional limitations that are critical to plan appropriate interventions and improve quality of life. Using the framework of the World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health, a unifying diagnostic term is proposed: "Pediatric Feeding Disorder" (PFD), defined as impaired oral intake that is not age-appropriate, and is associated with medical, nutritional, feeding skill, and/or psychosocial dysfunction. By incorporating associated functional limitations, the proposed diagnostic criteria for PFD should enable practitioners and researchers to better characterize the needs of heterogeneous patient populations, facilitate inclusion of all relevant disciplines in treatment planning, and promote the use of common, precise, terminology necessary to advance clinical practice, research, and health-care policy.