Abstract
Objective
To examine the catch up growth in severely wasted children using energy dense local foods at a hospital based nutrition rehabilitation unit.
Design
Retrospective cohort.
Setting
In-patient ward at a tertiary care government pediatric hospital in Hyderabad.
Patients
Children with severe malnutrition (n=309) admitted to nutrition ward from January 2001 to December 2005.
Intervention
A diet based on energy dense local foods along with multivitamin-multimineral supplements.
Main outcome measures
Catch up growth (g/kg/day) during each week of hospital stay.
Results
Mean age of the children was 25 months (range 2–60). Their baseline weight for height (WHZ) Z score was −4.1. Mean weight gain was moderate (5g/kg/day) and baseline WHZ score had a significant negative relationship to the weight gain. The prevalence of morbidities was high and the commonest morbidity was fever. Weight gain was higher by almost 40% in the absence of morbidities in any week.
Conclusions
The diet based on local energy dense foods was found to be suitable for the nutrition rehabilitation of severely malnourished children though the rate of weight gain was moderate.
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Mamidi, R.S., Kulkarni, B., Radhakrishna, K. et al. Hospital based nutrition rehabilitation of severely undernourished children using energy dense local foods. Indian Pediatr 47, 687–693 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-010-0101-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-010-0101-7