REHABILITATION CENTER FOR NUTRITION: A NOVEL APPROACH

Abstract

Introduction: Malnutrition is a pathological state of deficiency or excess of nutrients. Under-nutrition indicates a state wherein the weight for age, height for age, and weight for height indices are below-2 Z-score of the National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS) norms. In children aged <5 years under nutrition is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality. There is significant increase in the risk of case fatality rate in severe acute malnutrition (SAM) children suffering from diarrhoea, measles, and pneumonia. Revised estimates with the use of the new WHO Child Growth Standards in developing country situations has resulted in a 2–4 times increase in the number of infants and children falling below-three standard deviation (3SD) weight for height/length as compared to that of using the former NCHS reference.
 Material and Methods: The study was conducted on sample size of 100 children and were then followed up for the period of 2 months to assess the nutritional status during the period of initial stay and the entire follow-up period using available records of anthropometric indicators of the admitted children recruited in the study at the Nutrition Rehabilitation Center (NRC). Weight at admission and discharge and daily weights were recorded from the NRC registers; average weight gain was calculated.
 Results: A total of 100 patients were included in the study of which 54 (54%) were girls and 46 (46%) were boys. The mean age duration for the entire group was 26.45 ± 12.23 months; for boys 25.87 ± 12.54 months and for girls 23.66 ± 12.88 months. 51% of the parents of the admitted children were illiterate, 48% had received education up to primary school, and 1% of the parents were graduates. 49% of the parents of the admitted children were daily wage labourers, while 36% of the mothers were housewives. The average weight gain for the study group during their stay at the centers was 9.34 ± 4.33 g/kg/day; for boys the average weight gain being 8.11 ± 5.27 g/kg/day and for girls 10.29 ± 5.99 g/kg/day. The mean MUAC at admission was 11.38 ± 0.96 cm and at discharge it was 11.99 ± 1.68 cm. The difference was observed to be statistically significant (P<0.001). Dropout rates of 10%, 32%, 48%, and 70% were obtained for the four follow-up visits conducted 15 days, 30days, 45 days , and 60 days from the day of discharge.
 Conclusion: Children belonging to illiterate mothers have the highest rates of malnutrition. There was a significant difference between mean weight at discharge and the mean weight at admission for the entire study group which is really satisfying the need of NRC.