A study of nutritional assessment in children with pneumonia or diarrhoea and pneumonia and diarrhoea both admitted at a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

: Adequate Nutrition is essential for development of human. Malnutrition includes both undernutrition and over-nutrition and refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in the intake of energy, protein and/or other nutrients. Benefits of good health are perceived not only at the individual level but also at the level of society and country. : To study the proportion and severity of malnutrition in children admitted with pneumonia and Acute Diarrhoea. To study the correlation of severity of malnutrition in both pneumonia and diarrhoea in children. : A cross sectional study was conducted 374 among Paediatrics patient between 1 month to 5 years of age, admitted at Paediatric ward, New Civil Hospital, Surat. : Majority of patients were male (n=236, 63.10%). Maximum subjects were in age range 1-3 years (n=194, 51.87%), followed by 103 subjects ≤1 year of age and 77 subjects were >3-5 years of age. Only 288 subjects were completely immunized (77%) and rest of 86 patients were partially immunized (23%). In present study, maximum subjects were full term babies (n=283, 75.67%) and 91 patients were preterm infants (24.33%). And maximum subjects were normal birth weight (n=276, 73.80%) and 98 subjects (26.20%) had low birth weight at the time of delivery. : SAM must be identified and handled carefully since it causes more difficulties and requires a longer hospital stay than MAM and the regular nutrition group. MAM, which is commonly ignored, must be recognised and monitored because it can eventually result in SAM.