SynthesisPloS one2020
The recovery rate from severe acute malnutrition among under-five years of children remains low in sub-Saharan Africa. A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Evaluating the Performance of Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition Programs in Somalia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Comparing Azithromycin to Amoxicillin in the Management of Uncomplicated Severe Acute Malnutrition in Burkina Faso: A Pilot Randomized Trial.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2022Trial
- Recovery Rate of Under-Five Children From Severe Acute Malnutrition and Its Predictors in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Health science reports · 2026Review
- Article
- Incidence and predictors of treatment default among children aged 6-59 months with severe acute malnutrition in stabilisation centres in western Ethiopia: a prospective follow-up study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Relapse Burden of Severe Acute Malnutrition Post-Recovery Using SPHERE Performance Indicators: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Health science reports · 2025Review
- Time to Recovery From Severe Acute Malnutrition to Normal Nutritional Status and Its Predictors Among Children Aged 6-59 Months in North-East Ethiopia.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Article
- Recovery rate of sever acute malnutrition and its predictors among children admitted to therapeutic feeding unit in Northcentral Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Time to recovery from severe acute malnutrition and predictors among children aged 6-59 months at public hospitals: retrospective follow-up study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Sex differences in severe acute malnutrition in children under 5 years in Zambia.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Recovery rate and predictors of severe acute malnutrition among under-five children admitted to therapeutic feeding units in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ nutrition, prevention & health · 2025Article
- Forecasting acute childhood malnutrition in Kenya using machine learning and diverse sets of indicators.PloS one · 2025Article
- Recovery time and associated factors of severe acute malnutrition in children aged 0-59 months admitted to referral hospitals in Tanzania: an institution-based prospective cohort study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Systemic biological mechanisms underpin poor post-discharge growth among severely wasted children with HIV.Nature communications · 2024Article
- The Spectrum of Pathogens Associated with Infections in African Children with Severe Acute Malnutrition: A Scoping Review.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Article
- Micronutrient supplementation practices in relation to the World Health Organisation 2013 guidelines on management of severe acute malnutrition.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of a nonweight-based daily dosage of ready-to-use therapeutic food in children suffering from uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition: A nonrandomized, noninferiority analysis of programme data in Afghanistan.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
- Article
- Time to recovery and its predictors among children aged 6-59 months having uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition attending an outpatient therapeutic program in Northeast Ethiopia: prospective cohort study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGlobally, Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) has been reduced by only 11% over the past 20 years and continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. So far, in Sub-Saharan Africa, several primary studies have been conducted on recovery rate and determinants of recovery from SAM in under-five children. However, comprehensive reviews that would have a shred of strong evidence for designing interventions are lacking. So, this review and meta-analysis was conducted to bridge this gap.
methodsA systematic review of observational studies published in the years between 1/1/2000 to 12/31/2018 was conducted following the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) statement. Two reviewers have been searched and extracted data from CINAHL (EBSCO), MEDLINE (via Ovid), Emcare, PubMed databases, and Google scholar. Articles' quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale by two independent reviewers, and only studies with fair to good quality were included in the final analysis. The review presented the pooled recovery rate from SAM and an odds ratio of risk factors affecting recovery rate after checking for heterogeneity and publication bias. The review has been registered in PROSPERO with protocol number CRD42019122085.
resultChildren with SAM from 54 primary studies (n = 140,148) were included. A pooled rate of recovery was 71.2% (95% CI: 68.5-73.8; I2 = 98.9%). Children who received routine medication (Pooled Odds ratio (POR):1.85;95% CI: 1.49-2.29; I2 = 0.0%), older age (POR: 1.99;95% CI: 1.29-3.08; I2 = 80.6%), and absence of co-morbidity (POR:3.2;95% CI: 2.15-4.76; I2 = 78.7%) had better odds of recovery. This systematic review and meta-analysis suggestes HIV infected children had lower recovery rate from SAM (POR; 0.19; 95% CI: 0.09-0.39; I2 = 42.9%) compared to those non-infected.
conclusionThe meta-analysis deciphers that the pooled recovery rate was below the SPHERE standard, and further works would be needed to improve the recovery rate. So, factors that were identified might help to revise the plan set by the countries, and further research might be required to explore health fascilities fidelity to the WHO SAM management protocol.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.