TITLE:
Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition in a Senegalese Paediatric Hospital
AUTHORS:
Ndiogou Seck, Idrissa Basse, Djibril Boiro, Younoussa Keïta, Lamine Thiam, Aliou Abdoulaye Ndongo, Ndéye Rama Diagne-Gueye
KEYWORDS:
Severe Acute Malnutrition, Children, Complications, Risk Factors, Lethality
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.11 No.2,
May
28,
2021
ABSTRACT: Malnutrition
is a global health problem. It is very common in developing countries where it contributes
to an increase in morbidity and mortality, especially among children under five
years of age. The main objective of this study was to describe the management of
severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children six months to five years of age hospitalized
at Diamniadio Children’s Hospital
(DCH). This was an
epidemiological, retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional study of children
aged six to 59 months hospitalized at DCH for SAM. The study took place over a 12-month
period (from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018). During the study period, 67 children were admitted for
SAM, representing a hospital prevalence of 8.4%. The majority (88%) children were
less than 24 months old. Reasons for consultations were dominated by diarrhea (57.5%)
vomiting (38.8%). Complications related to SAM were mainly: anaemia (74.6%), infections
(85%) and severe acute dehydration (40.3%).
Factors associated with SAM were young age (infants under 24 months of age),
poverty, the first four children of a sibling, poor behaviour of food diversification.
The average length of hospitalization was 12 days. The nutritional recovery rate
was 73.1% and lethality was 3%. Conclusion: The prevention
of malnutrition must involve the fight against poverty, an optimal and well-diversified
diet, monitoring the nutritional status of children up to five years of age.