The CAN Score (Clinical Assessment of Nutrition) is a bedside physical-examination tool for grading a newborn's nutritional status at birth, independent of birth weight. It scores nine physical parameters — hair, cheeks, neck & chin, arms, legs, back, buttocks, chest, and abdomen — each from 1 (severe malnutrition) to 4 (normal), for a total ranging from 9 to 36. A total score of 25 or higher is classified as normal nutritional status, while a score below 25 indicates fetal malnutrition. The method is based on Metcoff's 1994 approach to detecting nutritional deficits in infants who may otherwise look appropriately grown for gestational age.
It assesses a newborn's nutritional status at birth by scoring nine physical signs of fat and muscle wasting — hair, cheeks, neck & chin, arms, legs, back, buttocks, chest, and abdomen.
A total score of 25 or higher out of 36 is classified as normal nutritional status; a score below 25 indicates fetal malnutrition is present.
Nine physical parameters: hair, cheeks, neck & chin, arms, legs, back, buttocks, chest, and abdomen, each scored from 1 (severe malnutrition) to 4 (normal).
Yes — the tool notes that fetal malnutrition may be present even when birth weight is appropriate for gestational age, since the assessment is independent of birth weight.
The method is credited in-app to Metcoff (1994), published in Pediatric Clinics of North America.