Survival and nutritional status of children with severe acute malnutrition, six months post-discharge from outpatient treatment in Jigawa state, Nigeria

Background Severe acute malnutrition is defined by <70% weight for length/height, by visible severe wasting, by the presence of pitting edema, and in children 6 to 59 months of age, mid upper arm circumference <110 mm. Severe acute malnutrition remains to be a worldwide problem, claiming lives of millions of children, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Though the Ethiopian national guideline states the total length of stay in therapeutic feeding units should not be more than four weeks, there is huge difference, varying from 8 to 47 days of stay. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess length of stay to recover from severe acute malnutrition and associated factors among under five children hospitalized to the public hospitals in Aksum Town. Methods Sample size was calculated using STATA version 12.0. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using pretested questionnaire in the public hospitals in Aksum on children aged 0-59 months. Cleaned data was entered to Epi info version 7.1.4 and then exported into SPSS version 21 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable analyses were performed using Kaplan Meier and Cox regression models. During bivariable analysis, variables with p-value < 0.05 were selected for multivariable analysis to identify independent factors associated with length of stay. Results A total of 564 participants enrolled to the study. The rate of recovery was 56% with median length of stay of 15 days (95% CI: 14.1, 15.9). The independent predictors of length of stay to recovery were presence of diarrhea at admission (AHR = 0.573, 95% CI: 0.415-0.793), being HIV positive (AHR = 0.391, 95% CI: 0.194-0.788), palmar pallor (AHR = 0.575, 95% CI: 0.416-0.794), presence of other co-morbidities at admission (AHR = 0.415, 95% CI: 0.302-0.570) and not being treated with plumpy nut (AHR = 0.368, 95% CI: 0.262-0.518).

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Length of stay to recover from severe acute malnutrition and associated factors among under-five years children admitted to public hospitals in Aksum, Ethiopia

Tesfay¹,

Abay

Hintsa

et al. 2020

“…In the same setting, Kerac et al [27] showed that the death hazard ratio 90 days after discharge decreased with each increased anthropometric measurement unit at admission (HR adjusted for age, edema, and HIV status; 0.80 per cm of MUAC and 0.75 per WHZ unit). Evidence of this relationship between severity at admission and mortality after discharge has also been found for other anthropometric indicators of growth and nutritional status, such as weight-for-age, height-for-age, and head circumference [26][27][28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Bringing severe acute malnutrition treatment close to households through community health workers can lead to early admissions and improved discharge outcomes

López‐Ejeda

Charle-Cuéllar²,

Alé

et al. 2020

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) affects over 16.6 million children worldwide. The integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) strategy seeks to improve essential health by means of nonmedical community health workers (CHWs) who treat the deadliest infectious diseases in remote rural areas where there is no nearby health center. The objective of this study was to assess whether SAM treatment delivered by CHWs close to families' locations may improve the early identification of cases compared to outpatient treatment at health facilities (HFs), with a decreased number complicated cases referred to stabilization centers, increased anthropometric measurements at admission (closer to the admission threshold) and similarity in clinical outcomes (cure, death, and default). The study included 930 children aged 6 to 59 months suffering from SAM in the Kita district of the Kayes Region in Mali; 552 children were treated by trained CHWs. Anthropometric measurements, the presence of edema, and other medical signs were recorded at admission, and the length of stay and clinical outcomes were recorded at discharge. The results showed fewer children with edema at admission in the CHW group than in the HF group (0.4% vs. 3.7%; OR = 10.585 [2.222-50.416], p = 0.003). Anthropometric measurements at admission were higher in the CHW group, with fewer children falling into the lowest quartiles of both weight-for-height z-scores (20.2% vs. 31.5%; p = 0.002) and mid-upper arm circumference (18.0% vs. 32.4%; p<0.001), than in the HF group. There was no difference in the length of stay. More children in the CHW group were cured (95.9% vs. 88.7%; RR = 3.311 [1.772-6.185]; p<0.001), and there were fewer defaulters (3.7% vs. 9.8%; RR = 3.345 [1.702-6.577]; p<0.001) than in the HF group. Regression analyses demonstrated that less severe anthropometric measurements at admission resulted in an increased probability of cure at discharge. The study results also showed that CHWs provided more integrated care, as they diagnosed and treated significantly more cases of infectious diseases than HFs (diarrhea: 36.

“…The study intended to enrol 50 participants, allowing for detection of 10% mortality with a 95% confidence interval of 3-22%. A 10% mortality rate at six months following discharge was predicted based on the 0.8-10.3% mortality range identified in previous studies [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. The actual sample size was, however, limited by fewer than anticipated children with SAM being admitted during the study period.…”

Section: Sample Size Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies conducted in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Bangladesh, and India have described mortality rates ranging between 0.8-10.3% from discharge to up to one year after either hospital or community-based management of SAM [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Factors associated with death included younger age (<12 months) and greater malnutrition severity at admission [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Mortality was highest among children living with HIV [4][5][6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Clinical and growth outcomes of severely malnourished children following hospital discharge in a South African setting

Grimbeek

Saloojee

2022

Background Data on outcomes of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) following treatment are scarce with none described from any upper-middle-income country. This study established mortality, clinical outcomes and anthropometric recovery of children with SAM six months following hospital discharge. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted in children aged 3–59 months enrolled on discharge from two hospitals in the Tshwane district of South Africa between April 2019 and January 2020. The primary outcome was mortality at six months. Secondary outcomes included relapse rates, type(s) and frequency of morbidities experienced and the anthropometric changes in children with SAM following hospital discharge. Standard programmatic support included nutritional supplements. Results Forty-three children were enrolled with 86% of participants followed up to six months. Only a third of the participants had normal anthropometry at hospital discharge–a quarter still had ongoing SAM. There were no deaths, although four children (9%) were re-hospitalised including two for complicated SAM. Mean weight-for-length z-scores (WLZ) and wasting rates improved at one month but deteriorated by three months. At three months, six children (14%) either had ongoing or relapsed SAM–a SAM incidence rate of 20 per 1000 person-months despite more than half of the participants still receiving nutritional supplements at the time. Risk factors associated with persistent malnutrition at three months included a low WLZ on admission (relative risk [RR] 3.3, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 1.2–9.2), being discharged from hospital before meeting WHO SAM treatment discharge criteria (RR 5.3, 95%CI 1.3–14.8) or having any illness by three months (RR 8.6, 95%CI 1.3–55.7). Conclusion Post-discharge mortality and morbidity was lower than in other less resourced settings. However, anthropometric recovery was poorer than expected. Modifying discharge criteria, optimising the use of available nutritional supplements and better integration with community-based health and social services may improve outcomes for children with SAM post-hospitalisation.