Nutritional status of Human Immune virus-infected under-five children in North West Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundGlobally, malnutrition affects nearly one-third of the 8 million deaths of under 5 years children. Malnutrition associated with the Human Immune virus (HIV) infection is a complex medical condition. The co-occurrence of malnutrition and HIV increase the rate of morbidity and mortality of children significantly. ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess nutritional status and associated factors of HIV-infected under-five children before antiretroviral therapy initiation in North West Ethiopia. MethodsAn institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 270 records of HIV-infected children who were visiting Debre Markos referral hospital and Felege Hiwot referral hospital from 2015 to 2017 in North West Ethiopia. Malnutrition was assessed among the participants using the World Health Organization Z-score charts. Data were entered using Epi-Data version 3.1 and analysis was done using STATA 14 statistical software. The multivariable logistic regression model was fitted for each explanatory variable. Odds ratio with its 95% confidence interval with p-values < 0.05 were used to measure statistically significant association. ResultThe overall burden of malnutrition among HIV-infected under-five children was 27%; 10.7%, 17.8 %, and 15.9 % of wasting, stunting, and underweight respectively. Of all participants, 40% of them had a CD4 count below the threshold, 37.8% were in advanced stages of the disease and 17.8% of children had developed anemia. Seventeen percent of HIV-infected under-five children had opportunistic infections of which tuberculosis, pneumonia, and Kaposi’s sarcoma were highly observed. Age of children was significantly associated with malnutrition; older children were less likely to develop malnutrition as compared to infants (AOR: 0.15, 95% CI (0.07, 0.32)). ConclusionThe magnitude of malnutrition among HIV-infected children remains high in the study area. Therefore, measures should be strengthened in promoting nutritional education for HIV-positive children.