‘Fetal Malnutrition’ is the failure to acquire adequate quantum of fat and muscle mass during intrauterine growth. ‘CAN score’ (Clinical Assessment of Nutritional score) is a simple, practical, clinically applicable scoring system, developed to identify newborn babies with fetal malnutrition. A cross-sectional study was undertaken at NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital. The study group included 60 live full term neonates and duration of the study was two months. The objectives of the study were: 

1.     To estimate occurrence of fetal malnutrition in full term neonates using CAN score. 

2.     To compare CAN score with other anthropometric criteria used to assess fetal growth. 

The following results were obtained: 

1.    Out of 60 neonates, 7 (11.6%) had fetal malnutrition by CAN score. 

2.     A significant correlation was found between neonates classified as malnourished by CAN score and         each of the criteria tested; like birth weight ,length, head circumference and ponderal index. (p             value<0.001).  

The study emphasizes the importance of CAN score as a simple clinical index for identifying Fetal Malnutrition and its potential to predict neonatal morbidity associated with Fetal Malnutrition without the aid of any sophisticated equipments.

Keywords: CAN score; Fetal malnutrition; Ponderal index.