Shakeel Ahmad, Tayyaba Rafique, Nusrat Hussain, Asma Akbar.
Risk Factors of Malnutrition in under 5 Year Children Admitted at DHQ Hospital, DG Khan.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;12(2):546-50.

Background: Malnutrition is a disorder resulting from not having enough food or enough of right food, for a long time. It is associated with more than 50% of all childhood mortality in developing countries with the risk of mortality being 5 – 8 folds among severely compared to moderately malnourished children. Child mortality continues to be a public health priority worldwide. In Pakistan it is estimated that nearly 40% to 50% of children under 5 years are stunted, 12% severe underweight, 13% moderate to severely wasted. Aim: To determine the factors leading to malnutrition in children 6 months to 5 years of age admitted in Teaching Hospital Dera Ghazi Khan . Study design: Cross sectional survey Setting: Department of Pediatrics, Teaching Hospital, Dera Ghazi Khan . Duration of study: Six months from 01-01-17 to 30-06-17 . Sample size: The sample size was calculated to be 200 using standard WHO formula for sample size calculation. Sampling technique: Non-probability consecutive sampling. Data collection procedure: 200 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected from in door Pediatric Medicine department of Teaching Hospital Dera Ghazi Khan . After taking informed consent of parents their bio- data including name, age, sex and addresses were recorded. Results: There were 200 patients in total. Males were 115(57.5%) whereas females were 85(42.5%). Mean age of the patients was 28.65 +-15.34 months, mean weight was 12.05 +-2.57kg and mean for percentile of weight for age was 32.20 +-27.05. When the frequencies of various risk factors were evaluated it was found that delayed weaning (> 6 months later) was present in 77 (38.5%) of the patients. Low maternal education where mother was not even primary was present in 82 (41%) of the patients. There was lack of proper vaccination in 52(26%) of the patients. Larger family size with > 2 kids younger than 5 years was identified in 97(48.5%) and under-feeding with < 2 bottles per day feeding was identified in 147 (73.5%) of the patients. No significant effect of age or gender was found on the frequencies of various risk factors of malnutrition in the study population. Conclusion: Malnutrition is a commonly encountered problem in our setting and the most commonly responsible risk factors include under-feeding and larger family size fol lowed by low maternal education, delayed weaning and lack of vaccination.

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