Changes in Nutritional Status and Morbidities Among Children Having Severe Acute Malnutrition Attending a Nutrition Follow-Up Unit in Bangladesh Who Did Not Receive Any Food Supplementation.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The problem of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among < 5 years old (U-5) children in Bangladesh is awful with higher risk of death or morbidities. However, there is no nationwide program where these children are managed with take-home therapeutic/supplementary food as recommended by World Health Organization. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the changes in nutritional status and morbidities over 3 months of U-5 children having severe wasting (ie, SAM) whose parents refused to admit their children in the residential nutrition rehabilitation unit of the Dhaka Hospital of icddr, b (an international health research Institute based in Dhaka, Bangladesh), and instead attended the nutrition follow-up unit (NFU), and thus did not receive any food supplementation during nutritional rehabilitation. METHODS: At the NFU, these SAM children on every visit (fortnightly to monthly) received health and nutrition education, multivitamins, zinc and iron supplements, and treatment of illnesses if any. RESULTS: During the study period, a total 180 U-5 SAM children came regularly for NFU visit for at least 3 months, and they comprised our study sample. Their age at first NFU visit (baseline) was 13.4 ± 7.8 months and 46% were female. Over these 3 month follow-up period, the rate of weight gain was 2.2 ± 1.9 g/kg/d, change in mid upper arm circumference was from 105 to 115 mm, and change in weight-for-length or weight-for-height z-score was from -2.70 ± 0.94 to -1.95 ± 1.00. During the prior 14 days to the 4 NFU follow-up visit, 13.6% to 22.8% had common cold and/or cough, and 12.2% to 15.1% had pneumonia. CONCLUSION: Because the rate of weight gain was far below the expected ∼5 g/kg/d, the NFU visits without food supplementation are insufficient in terms of catchup growth. Thus, additional efforts are required to improve the management of these SAM children for their catchup growth.