Research Article
A Study to Understand Pattern of Weight Gain among Undernourished Children Admitted to Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre in a Tertiary Health Care Setting- A Retrospective Study
Karn M1*, Angolkar M1, Herekar V2, Adhikari H1, Sharma R1 and Karn A3
1Department of Public Health, J.N. Medical College, India
3Department of Paediatrics, J.N. Medical College, India
3MPH, Chitwan Medical College, Nepal
*Corresponding author: Mukesh Karn, MPH, Department of Public Health, J.N. Medical College, KAHER, Belagavi, Karnataka, India Email: m.mukace@gmail.com
Article Information: Submission: 02/04/2020; Accepted: 08/09/2020; Published: 12/09/2020
Copyright: © 2020 Karn M, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Malnutrition in developing countries causes 45% of deaths among under-five children according to WHO health statistics 2016. India is one among the many developing countries where child malnutrition is a major problem and severe. India is home to more than one-third of the world’s undernourished children.
Objective: The aim of the study was to understand pattern of weight gain among undernourished children admitted to nutritional rehabilitation centre in a
tertiary health care setting.
Methodology: A retrospective study was conducted using records from Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre ward. This study has been taken up to analyse data of last three years to determine its impact on weight gain pattern. 320 children aged between 1-60 months were recruited and their records were analyzed. Demographic information was collected by telephonic interview. SPSS 20.0 and WHO Anthro software was used to analyze the data.
Results: Majority (75.3%) children were severe acute malnourished. 58% of children were male of which 40% were below the age of one. Mean (SD) duration of stay in the nutritional rehabilitation centre was 8.9 (4.9) days. There was a statistically significant (p<0.05) difference between mean weight at admission and mean weight at discharge, socioeconomic status and clinical impression.
Conclusion: NRC had a good impact on weight gain among admitted children. The weight gain was statistically significant. Though stay at NRC has
shown improvement in the weight gain, but during the time of discharge most of the children are still undernourished due to shorter duration of stay at NRC.