A STUDY ON ETIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND CO MORBIDITIES IN CHILDREN WITH SEVERE ACUTE MALNUTRITION ADMITTED IN A RURAL TERTIARY CARE CENTRE

Authors

  • SIVASHANKARI V Department of Pediatrics, Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital, Mundiyampakkam, Tamil Nadu, India.
  • NISHA K Department of Pediatrics, Government Pudukottai Medical College and Hospital, Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, India. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1252-7064
  • JAYACHANDRAN C Department of Pediatrics, Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital, Mundiyampakkam, Tamil Nadu, India.
  • BALAMURUGAN K Department of Pediatrics, Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital, Mundiyampakkam, Tamil Nadu, India. https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2014-4799

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2023.v16i12.48418

Keywords:

Breastfeeding, complementary feeding, severe acute malnutrition

Abstract

Objectives: In India, children under 5 years of age suffer from varying degrees of malnutrition. As the severity of undernutrition increases, risk of other diseases increases exponentially. The aim of this study was to identify etiological factors for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children aged 6 months to 5 years.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at Department of Pediatrics of a rural tertiary care center, Tamil Nadu, India, between January and December 2020. All children with SAM in the age group of 6 months to 5 years were included in the study while children with secondary causes of malnutrition were excluded. Sociodemographic data were entered in preformed proforma. Nutritional status was assessed using the World Health Organization (WHO) standard growth charts. Descriptive data were given in summary statistics while Student’s t-test and Pearson’s Chi-square test were used for analyzing variables. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Among 111 children included, mean age was 25.2±15.7 months, 55.85% were females, mean height was 82.4±12.0 cm, 85.58% were from lower socioeconomic status, and mean duration of hospital stay was 5.9±2.5 days. Mothers were the caregivers in 80.18%, 63.96% were unaware of breastfeeding practices, and 59.46% had exclusively breastfed for <3 months. Complementary feed was unsatisfactory in 77.48%, and 75.67% of children were given cow’s milk but inadequate. As maternal age increased, awareness of breastfeeding (p=0.0005) and complementary feeding (p=0.0005) significantly increased. The mean weight at admission was 8.09±2.25 kg which increased to 8.26±2.25 kg and was significant (p=0.0005).

Conclusion: As mothers were the primary caregivers but with poor awareness on breastfeeding practices, awareness campaigns targeting mothers will be more effective. As awareness on breastfeeding and complementary feeding increased with increasing maternal age, age of childbirth can be increased to more than 20 years.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

SIVASHANKARI V, Department of Pediatrics, Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital, Mundiyampakkam, Tamil Nadu, India.

Assistant Professor,

Department of Pediatrics,

Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital,

Mundiyampakkam,

Tamilnadu, India - 605601

NISHA K, Department of Pediatrics, Government Pudukottai Medical College and Hospital, Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Assistant Surgeon,

NICU, Department of Pediatrics,

Government Pudukottai Medical College and Hospital,

Pudukottai,

Tamilnadu, India - 622003

JAYACHANDRAN C, Department of Pediatrics, Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital, Mundiyampakkam, Tamil Nadu, India.

Assistant Professor,

Department of Pediatrics,

Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital,

Mundiyampakkam,

Tamilnadu, India - 605601

BALAMURUGAN K, Department of Pediatrics, Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital, Mundiyampakkam, Tamil Nadu, India.

Senior Assistant Professor,

Department of Pediatrics,

Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital,

Mundiyampakkam,

Tamilnadu, India - 605601

References

Available from: https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/nfhs-5_ phase-ii_0.pdf [Last accessed on 2023 Feb 02].

Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240029781[Last accessed on 2023 Jan 14].

India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative Malnutrition Collaborators. The burden of child and maternal malnutrition and trends in its indicators in the states of India: The Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2017. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2019;3:855-70. Erratum in: Lancet Child J Adolesc Health 2019.

Available from: https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/under-five-mortality [Last accessed on 2022 Dec 19].

Kumar R, Singh J, Joshi K, Singh HP, Bijesh S. Co-morbidities in hospitalized children with severe acute malnutrition. Indian Pediatr 2014;51:125-7. doi: 10.1007/s13312-014-0343-x, PMID 23999679

Abeje AT, Gudayu TW, Malefia YD, Befftu BB. Analysis of hospital records on treatment outcome of severe acute malnutrition: The case of Gondar University Tertiary Hospital. Pediatr Ther 2016;6:2161-0665.

Dhanalakshmi S, Selvaraj R. A study on the prevalence of acute and chronic malnutrition and influence of feeding practices among 6 months to 2 years children in rural field practice area of Kilpauk Medical College, Tamil Nadu. Int J Community Med Public Health 2019;6:1172-7. doi: 10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20190606

Irena AH, Mwambazi M, Mulenga V. Diarrhea is a major killer of children with severe acute malnutrition admitted to inpatient set-up in Lusaka, Zambia. Nutr J 2011;10:110. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-10-110, PMID 21989455

John C, Diala U, Adah R, Lar L, Envuladu EA, Adedeji I, et al. Survival and nutritional status of children with severe acute malnutrition, six months post-discharge from outpatient treatment in Jigawa state, Nigeria. PLoS One 2018;13:e0196971. doi: 10.1371/journal. pone.0196971, PMID 29924797

Choudhary M, Sharma D, Nagar RP, Gupta BD, Nagar T, Pandita A. Clinical profile of severe acute malnutrition in western Rajasthan: A prospective observational study from India. J Pediatr Neonatal Care 2015;2:00057.

Syed Tariq A, Naik SA, Wasim Rafiq A, Saleem R. Demographic, clinical profile of severe acute malnutrition and our experience of nutrition rehabilitation centre at children hospital Srinagar Kashmir. Int J Contemp Pediatr 2015;2:233-7.

Gupta RK, Nagori GL, Nagori P, Patidar RP. Pattern of Co-morbidities in children with severe acute malnutrition admitted in MTC of a teaching hospital of South East Rajasthan, India. J Pharm Biomed Sci 2015;5:403-7.

Thakur N, Chandra J, Pemde H, Singh V. Anemia in severe acute malnutrition. Nutrition 2014;30:440-2. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2013.09.011, PMID 24332525

Sunguya BF, Koola JI, Atkinson S. Infection associated with severe malnutrition among hospitalised children in East Africa. Tanzan Health Res Bull 2006;8:189-92.

Sarada G, Rafiq Ahmed K, Sudhakar G, Srilatha. Mortality in children with severe acute malnutrition: A prospective observational study of risk factors. Int J Bioassays 2015;4:4088-9.

Published

07-12-2023

How to Cite

V, S., N. K, J. C, and B. K. “A STUDY ON ETIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND CO MORBIDITIES IN CHILDREN WITH SEVERE ACUTE MALNUTRITION ADMITTED IN A RURAL TERTIARY CARE CENTRE”. Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research, vol. 16, no. 12, Dec. 2023, pp. 209-11, doi:10.22159/ajpcr.2023.v16i12.48418.

Issue

Section

Original Article(s)