Determination of risk factors associated with malnutrition among children under the age of five: a case control study at Arthur Davison children’s hospital in Ndola, Zambia

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition is one of the conditions that contribute to high mortality rate among children under the age of five. Although risk factors for malnutrition are well known ,they tend to vary from population to population. The main objective of this study was to establish risk factors associated with malnutrition among children under the age of five presenting at Arthur Davison Children's Hospital in Ndola, Zambia. Method: A case-control study was conducted in the protein calorie malnutrition unit and other units at Arthur Davison Children's Hospital in Ndola, Zambia from October 2016 to may 2017.Cases were children who were moderately or severely malnourished with or without oedema with weight for height z-score of less than -2 Standard deviation from the median of WHO reference. Controls were children with z-score of greater than -2 Standard deviation. Results: A total of 144 children with 72 cases and 72 controls participated in the study. Independent risk factors which were significantly associated with malnutrition after adjusting for confounders were history of diarrhea (OR=4.20, 95% CI[1.77,9.95], children of fathers who were out of employment (OR= 5.28,95% CI[1.45,19.14]) ,and lack of a balanced diet (OR=0.11,95% CI[ 0.04,0.28]).Conclusion: Diarrhea illnesses, low social-economic status and lack of balanced diet were identified as risk factors significantly associated with malnutrition among children under the age of five presenting at Arthur Davison Children's Hospital, Zambia. As such Mortality rate due to malnutrition may be reduced by coming up with programmes to create more job opportunities, intensive measures to combat diarrhea illnesses such as use of Oral Rehydration Therapy and educating people on how to take a balanced diet.