Changes in Nutritional Status and Morbidities Among Children Having Severe Acute Malnutrition Attending a Nutrition Follow-Up Unit in Bangladesh Who Did Not Receive Any Food Supplementation

Background: The problem of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among <5 years old (U-5) children in Bangladesh is awful with higher risk of death or morbidities. However, there is no nationwide program where these children are managed with take-home therapeutic/supplementary food as recommended by World Health Organization. Objective: This study aimed to identify the changes in nutritional status and morbidities over 3 months of U-5 children having severe wasting (ie, SAM) whose parents refused to admit their children in the residential nutrition rehabilitation unit of the Dhaka Hospital of icddr, b, instead attended the nutrition follow-up unit (NFU), and thus did not receive any food supplementation during nutritional rehabilitation. Methods: At the NFU, these SAM children on every visit (fortnightly to monthly) received health and nutrition education, multivitamins, zinc and iron supplements, and treatment of illnesses if any. Results: During the study period, a total 180 U-5 SAM children came regularly for NFU visit for at least 3 months, and they comprised our study sample. Their age at first NFU visit (baseline) was 13.4 +/- 7.8 months and 46% were female. Over these 3 month follow-up period, the rate of weight gain was 2.2 +/- 1.9 g/kg/d, change in mid upper arm circumference was from 105 to 115 mm, and change in weight-for-length or weight-for-height z-score was from -2.70 +/- 0.94 to -1.95 +/- 1.00. During the prior 14 days to the 4 NFU follow-up visit, 13.6% to 22.8% had common cold and/or cough, and 12.2% to 15.1% had pneumonia. Conclusion: Because the rate of weight gain was far below the expected similar to 5 g/kg/d, the NFU visits without food supplementation are insufficient in terms of catchup growth. Thus, additional efforts are required to improve the management of these SAM children for their catchup growth.