Clinical profile of severe acute malnutrition among children under five years of age living in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh
Journal Title: Indian Journal of Child Health - Year 2018, Vol 5, Issue 4
Abstract
Introduction: Malnutrition is a general term and often refers to undernutrition resulting from inadequate consumption, poor absorption, or excessive loss of nutrients, but the term also encompasses overnutrition. Objective: The objective is to study the clinical profile of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and also to assess the effectiveness of Nutrition Rehabilitation Center in providing therapeutic care for children with SAM. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted at the department of pediatrics of a tertiary care center at Jhansi for a period of 12 months among 152 children with SAM. A detailed history and physical examination finding were recorded in pretested pro forma at the time of admission using the standard methodology and anthropometric measurement expressed in standard deviation from the median of the reference population (WHO). Results: Majority of the patients (96, 63.15%) belonged to age group of 6–24 months. Male patients constituted 52% of the total with a ratio of M:F = 1.1:1. The most common symptom reported was fever (53.28%), and the most common comorbidity was anemia 84.42%. An average hospital stay of patients was 8.72 days, and average weight gain/kg/day was 10.39 g. Suckling supplement technique was administered in 19 patients, with success in 13 (68.42%) cases while failure in 6 (31.57%) cases. Conclusion: Determinants of severe malnutrition include faulty feeding practices, ignorance about nutritional needs, repeated infections, large family size, and low socioeconomic status. Weight-height ratio is one of the best among the criteria for identifying SAM, and hence, every child should be screened adequately on presentation.
Authors and Affiliations
Om Shankar Chaurasiya, Ram Kumar Pathak, Sapna Gupta, Kawalpreet Chhabra
Keywords
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