Trial reportBMC pediatrics2017
Effectiveness of three commonly used transition phase diets in the inpatient management of children with severe acute malnutrition: a pilot randomized controlled trial in Malawi.
Trial report in BMC pediatrics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Effects of Formula-100 therapeutic milk andNarra J · 2024Trial
- A reduced-carbohydrate and lactose-free formulation for stabilization among hospitalized children with severe acute malnutrition: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial.PLoS medicine · 2019Trial
- Time to stabilization among under-five children with severe acute malnutrition in Ethiopia: a retrospective cohort study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Effect of ready-to-use therapeutic foods on time to recovery among children with severe acute malnutrition in Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study.BMC pediatrics · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of interventions to manage acute malnutrition in children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.Campbell systematic reviews · 2020Review
- Performance of three rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia duodenalis in children with severe acute malnutrition and diarrhoea.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2019Article
- Design and application of a novel two-amplicon approach for defining eukaryotic microbiota.Microbiome · 2018Article
- Transition from F-75 to ready-to-use therapeutic food in children with severe acute malnutrition, an observational study in Uganda.Nutrition journal · 2017Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe case fatality rate of severely malnourished children during inpatient treatment is high and mortality is often associated with diarrhea. As intestinal carbohydrate absorption is impaired in severe acute malnutrition (SAM), differences in dietary formulations during nutritional rehabilitation could lead to the development of osmotic diarrhea and subsequently hypovolemia and death. We compared three dietary strategies commonly used during the transition of severely malnourished children to higher caloric feeds, i.e., F100 milk (F100), Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and RUTF supplemented with F75 milk (RUTF + F75).
methodsIn this open-label pilot randomized controlled trial, 74 Malawian children with SAM aged 6-60 months, were assigned to either F100, RUTF or RUTF + F75. Our primary endpoint was the presence of low fecal pH (pH ≤ 5.5) measured in stool collected 3 days after the transition phase diets were introduced. Secondary outcomes were duration of hospital stay, diarrhea and other clinical outcomes. Chi-square test, two-way analysis of variance and logistic regression were conducted and, when appropriate, age, sex and initial weight for height Z-scores were included as covariates.
resultsThe proportion of children with acidic stool (pH ≤5.5) did not significantly differ between groups before discharge with 30, 33 and 23% for F100, RUTF and RUTF + F75, respectively. Mean duration of stay after transitioning was 7.0 days (SD 3.4) with no differences between the three feeding strategies. Diarrhea was present upon admission in 33% of patients and was significantly higher (48%) during the transition phase (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in mortality (n = 6) between diets during the transition phase nor were there any differences in other secondary outcomes.
conclusionsThis pilot trial does not demonstrate that a particular transition phase diet is significantly better or worse since biochemical and clinical outcomes in children with SAM did not differ. However, larger and more tightly controlled efficacy studies are needed to confirm these findings.
trial registrationISRCTN13916953 Registered: 14 January 2013.
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