Assessment of Clinical Outcome in Children with Severe Thinness on Medical Nutrition Therapy at 8 Weeks and 6 Months

Dr Vishal D. Sawant¹, Dr Varun Viswanathan²*, Dr Alka Jadhav², Dr Madhubala Jadhav², Dr Swathi Krishna² and Dr Bhagyashree Sawardekar²

¹Department of Pediatrics, TNMC and BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai, India.

²Department of Pediatrics, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital, Mumbai, India.

Corresponding Author Email: varun2201@gmail.com

The term malnutrition involves both over nutrition, accompanying with overweight, obesity, and under-nutrition including acute and chronic malnutrition as well as micronutrient deficiencies. The present study was undertaken to assess clinical outcome at 8 weeks and 6 months in children with Severe Thinness on Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT). A total of 52 severe thinness (ST) children were enrolled and given MNT. The anthropometry was recorded at every visit and analyzed at two time points viz.8 weeks and 6 months. The body mass index has been measured using formula: weight (kg)/height(metre)2. Mean weight on enrolment was 15.85±4.08 kg. At 8 weeks, mean weight was 17.35±4.55 kg and at 6 months it was 19.33±5.12 kg. Mean height on enrolment was 114.33±14.06 cm while at 8 weeks was 115.27±14.06 cm and at 6 months was 120.21±15.29 cm. Mean BMI on enrolment was 11.92±0.44kg/m2 while at 8 weeks it improved to 12.89±0.67kg/m2; at 6 months, it continued improved to 13.26±0.96kg/m2. Rate of weight gain from enrolment to 8 weeks was 1.67 grams/kg/day and from 8 weeks to 6 months was 0.36 gm/kg/day (P<0.001). At end of 8 weeks, in 73.33% subjects BMI improved to thin and 17.8% became normal while 8.9 % continued to remain ST. At 6 months, 22.22% remained ST, 33.33% subjects remained thin and 44.44% became normal. Improvement in mean weight and mean BMI as well as rate of weight gain was significant indicating the role of indigenously prepared MNT in improving acute malnutrition.

Anthropometry; Body Mass Index; Medical Nutrition Therapy; Ready to use Therapeutic Food; Severe Thinness

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