ABSTRACT
Background: Foetal malnutrition is one of the common cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates in a developing country like India and needs to be identified at birth. Objective: To assess foetal nutrition using CAN score and to compare it with other anthropometric indices. Methods: Prospective observational study consisting of 500 singleton full term neonates, assessed for foetal malnutrition using CAN score and then compared with other methods like Ponderal Index, MAC/OFC ratio and Weight for gestational age. Results: CAN score identified 66.4% babies as malnourished whereas Ponderal index identified 51.2% followed by MAC/OFC ratio as 45.6% babies. 62.8% babies were AGA and 37.2% babies were SGA according to weight for gestational age. Conclusion: CAN scoring system is a simple method of identifying foetal malnutrition which can be missed by other methods.