Effectiveness of treatment for visceral leishmaniasis in the nutritional profile of patients in a university hospital in Sergipe

Abstract

This article aims to evaluate the nutritional profile of patients before and after treatment for visceral leishmaniasis (LV). This is an experimental study with non-randomized clinical trial, conducted in LV patients in treatment at Sergipe University Hospital from 2011 to 2019. The data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using Jamovi 2.2 software. Before starting treatment 38.9% of patients were in malnutrition, 36.1% in eutrophy and 25% overweight/obesity (p <0.01). Most patients evolved from malnutrition (5.6%) for eutrophy/overweight (83.3%) (p <0.01), there was also a significant decrease in ferritin, triglycerides were an average of 195mg/dL to 153mg/dl (p = 0.034) and an increase in total cholesterol to 177mg/dl (p = 0.027), LDL to 108mg/dl (p = 0.029), HDL to 44.9mg/dl (p <0.01). It is clear that proper LV treatment is paramount to the improvement of malnourished patients.