Demographic and clinical profile of children with severe acute malnutrition: an experience from nutritional rehabilitation centre in South Kashmir

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition is significant contributor of childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries. More than 1/3rd of world’s severely malnourished children live in India. The aim was to evaluate the clinical-epidemiological profile and co-morbidities of SAM (severe acute malnutrition) children and to recognize socio-demographic risk factors of SAM children.Methods: It was a prospective hospital based case study. The prospective hospital based study was conducted from September 2018 to February 2020 and included children less than 5 years admitted to an paediatrics ward and satisfying the WHO definition of SAM. Data were entered in Microsoft excel sheet and SPSS software version 16 for windows was used for analysis.Results: 112 patients were taken for study. Mean age of admitted children were 16±3 months. Male:female ratio was 1:1.22. SAM is more common in nuclear families (N=67, 59.83%), illiterate mothers (N=72, 62.48%), children with high birth order more than 3 (N=42, 37%) and low socioeconomically status Kuppaswamy IV (N=72, 64.28%).The most common associated infections were acute gastroenteritis (82.14) and respiratory tract infections (54.20%). Hypoglycaemia (14.28) was the most common metabolic complication. The most commonly used supplementary food used was over diluted cow milk (43.67%).Conclusions: The problem of SAM is multifactorial (rural background, low socioeconomic status, maternal illiteracy, incomplete immunization). The findings of this study confirm the association of severe acute malnutrition with appropriate infant and young child feeding practices. NRCS provide life-saving care for children.

Clinical Profile and Outcome of Children With Severe Acute Malnutrition Admitted at Nutritional Rehabilitation Center of McCh-Associated Hospital of GMC-Anantnag

“…Females constituted the majority of study population as observed by other researchers [4,5]. This reflects differential care for baby of different gender in our study.…”

“…Maximum number of children was in the age group of 6-12 month followed by those in the age group of 12-24 months. This has been observed in many other studies [5,6] and may be attributed to improper introduction of complementary feeds.…”

“…This may be related possibly to economic stability and babies getting extra care in joint family structure in our society. Different studies reported higher incidence of SAM in the lower socioeconomic status [5,7]. In our study, SAM was more in lower and upper lower class (Kupuswamy socioeconomic status scale).…”

“…The prevalence of SAM was seen more in nuclear families like many other studies [5,7]. This may be related possibly to economic stability and babies getting extra care in joint family structure in our society.…”

“…In this study, most common electrolyte derangements were hypoglycemia (n=183, 59.80%) and hypokalemia (n=56, 18.30%). These derangements are known to occur in malnourished children [5].…”