RESUMO
The present work was planned to study morbidity pattern and nutritional status of a group of healthy new borns in a rural area near Alexandria (Abbis II, VIII villages) through a prospective follow up approach. Eighty two infants were followed up for 12 months. Each infant was subjected to 15 visits within the first year of life. Morbidity was recorded either from mother's history, records from rural health centres or detected by the researcher and expressed as morbidity risk exposures based on a tested scoring system. Anthropometric standards issued by WHO were used to classify the children's length for age, weight for age and weight for length in terms of a cut off point of 2 SD below the median of that of the reference. Gomez classification was used to diagnose undernutrition and Waterlow system was used to diagnose growth stunting. Socioeconomic status of infants' families was also assessed. Results indicated a high prevalence of morbidity risk exposure, growth retardation and under nutrition with a tendency for gradual increase towards the end of the follow up. The results also proved that diarrheal diseases were still the most common illness among infants followed by respiratory tract infections. Investigation of the effects of socioeconomic status on morbidity risk exposure proved its significance at the end of the follow up. The results also illustrated a significant effect of morbidity risk exposure on the nutritional status at the end of the first year.
PIP: Health workers visited 82 healthy newborns in 2 villages near Alexandria, Egypt 15 times during their 1st year of life. The morbidity pattern, the nutritional status, and the morbidity pattern's effect on the nutritional status of the infants were studied. At the end of 1 year, 40.24% of the children had diarrhea. The mean annual number of diarrheal episodes was 4.3%. Poor environmental sanitation and the presence of animals and birds in and around the infants homes probably contributed to the high prevalence of diarrhea. 35.37% had either an upper or lower respiratory tract infection at the end of follow up. The mean annual number of respiratory infections stood at 2.2. Skin disease was the 3rd most common disease during the 1st year particularly during the 1st 3 quarters (14.13%, 12.36%, and 11.91%). Eye disease especially conjunctivitis were the 4th most common diseases among these children, especially during the 3rd quarter (13.10). The only infectious disease was measles which afflicted only 3.66% of the infants. None of the infants from high middle socioeconomic households were considered at high morbidity risk exposure. Almost all (93.33%) of these infants were at low morbidity and low average risk exposures. 24.39% of infants from low socioeconomic households were at high morbidity risk exposure, however. The percentage of infants growing normally decreased over time. For example, at the 1st quarter, 91.3% grew normally and by the 4th quarter this decreased to 57.32%. By 1 year almost 1.5 were either stunted or wasted and 3.66% were both stunted and wasted. an association existed between morbidity and nutritional status of the infants. Children with high morbidity scores were also the children suffering from the most severe malnutrition. Health workers should encourage mothers to use child health services at the rural health centers. They also should use growth charts to monitor infant and child growth.
