Addressing sarcopenia and frailty in managing children with chronic disease
Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Time: 12:00 - 13:00 ET
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This webinar is brought to you by CMTF as part of Canadian Malnutrition Awareness Week™ October 6 - 10, 2025 "Unveiling Solutions"
This webinar is presented in English / Ce webinaire sera présenté en Anglais.
Webinar description:
Malnutrition, sarcopenia, and frailty are prevalent among children with chronic health conditions and represent distinct yet interrelated aspects of compromised nutritional and physiological status. These conditions are frequently accompanied by significant alterations in body composition—particularly an increase in fat mass and a reduction in lean muscle mass—even in the absence of overt weight loss. Such changes are often not detectable through conventional anthropometric measures alone (e.g., weight, BMI, or growth charts), which can obscure early identification of nutritional risk and functional decline.
Sarcopenia, characterized by a progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength, and frailty, defined by decreased physiological reserve and resistance to stressors, provide a more nuanced understanding of nutritional status and physical vulnerability. Their assessment enables clinicians to detect subtle, yet clinically meaningful shifts in body composition and function that precede or accompany malnutrition. Importantly, these conditions have been associated with increased morbidity, prolonged hospital stays, and a higher risk of developing non-communicable diseases later in life.
In this session, clinicians working with pediatric patients will introduce these concepts, review the pathophysiology of sarcopenia and frailty. The effectiveness of utilizing body composition measures to assess nutritional status and dictate interventions will be presented. Insights on practical tools that can be utilized by bedside practitioners to manage the nutrition care of children with chronic conditions will be shared.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this webinar the audience will be able to:
- Differentiate between malnutrition, sarcopenia, and frailty in pediatric populations, including their definitions, pathophysiology, clinical significance, and interrelationships
- Recognize the importance of incorporating assessments of sarcopenia and frailty into nutritional care plans to enable earlier identification of at-risk children and to guide targeted interventions for improved health outcomes
- Describe the limitations of anthropometric measures in detecting nutritional compromise in children with chronic health conditions
- Explain tools to assess body composition, sarcopenia and frailty and discuss the implications for clinical assessment
Speakers:
Robert Bandsma MD, PhD, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
Courtney-Martin MSc., PhD, RD, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children
Moderator: Laura Carter, MSc, RD - Alberta Health Services
About the Speakers:
Robert Bandsma, MD, PhD - is an Associate Professor at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. He is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist and Nutritionist at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto, Canada and a clinician-scientist at the SickKids Research Institute.
His international research program aims to improve the survival and long-term outcome of ill malnourished children. The research focuses on elucidating the pathways underlying the vulnerability of malnourished children and develop novel interventions. Dr. Bandsma has been a member of the World Health Organization Guideline Development Group for the prevention, diagnosis and management of wasting in children. His work is supported by the Canadian Institute for Health Research and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among others.
Courtney-Martin MSc., PhD, RD - is a Health Clinician Scientist and Senior Associate Scientist, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, and Associate Professor Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto. Her research is focused on protein and amino acid requirements and metabolism across the lifespan and on protein quality of foods for human nutrition. As a Health Clinician Scientist and clinical dietitian, she provides medial nutrition management for patients with intestinal failure. Her practice-based research is focused on body composition, and metabolic bone disease in children with intestinal failure. She also evaluates contaminants in total parenteral nutrition solutions sold in Canada.
About the Moderator:
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Laura Carter, MSc RD - Laura Carter is a dedicated Dietitian and Provincial Practice Lead at Alberta Health Services. She holds a Bachelor of Science and completed her Dietetic internship at the University of Alberta, where she also earned her Master of Science in Human Nutrition & Metabolism. Laura's expertise lies in pediatric malnutrition. She has supported implementation of pediatric nutrition screening in major pediatric hospitals throughout the province and training dietitians on the Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA). Laura’s research has focused on nutrition screening and assessment, including validating a pediatric nutrition screening tool for use in Alberta, updating the SGNA form, and understanding patient and family’s perspective on nutrition screening.
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