Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39449066›Full record

ArticleMaternal & child nutrition2025

Wasting coexisting with underweight and stunting among children aged 6‒59 months hospitalised in Garissa County Referral Hospital, Kenya.

Mutuvi Wambua, Symon M Kariuki, Hassan Abdullahi, Osman A Abdullahi, Moses M Ngari

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Article in Maternal & child nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

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5citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Mutuvi WambuaDepartment of Public Health, Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya.
Symon M KariukiDepartment of Public Health, Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya.
Hassan AbdullahiGarissa County Referral Hospital, Garissa, Kenya.
Osman A AbdullahiDepartment of Public Health, Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya.
Moses M NgariDepartment of Public Health, Pwani University, Kilifi, Kenya.ORCID 0000-0001-7149-5491

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Management of undernourished children depends only on wasting yet it can coexist with underweight and/or stunting. Among children admitted to hospital with acute illness, we determined the proportion with wasting coexisting with underweight and/or stunting and their risk factors. A retrospective review of hospital records of children 6‒59 months old admitted at Garissa County referral hospital, Kenya, from January 2017 to December 2019 was conducted. Using World Health Organization 2006 growth standards, undernutrition were defined: wasting as Weight-for-height Z-score < -2, stunting Height-for-age Z-score < -2 and underweight Weight-for-age Z-score < -2. We studied wasting coexisting with underweight and/or stunting. Among 624 children recruited, 347 (56%) were males and 511 (82%) <24 months old. Diarrhoea 210 (34%) and pallor/anaemia 310 (50%) were the most frequent admission diagnosis. HIV infection was present among 8 (1.3%) children. Wasting, underweight and stunting were present among 595 (95%), 518 (83%) and 176 (28%) children respectively. 161 (26%), 506 (81%) and 161 (26%) children had wasting coexisting with stunting, underweight and both stunting and underweight respectively. In the multivariable regression, diarrhoea was positively associated with wasting coexisting with stunting (adjusted risk ratio [aRR = 2.96] [95% CI = 2.06‒4.23]) and anaemia with wasting coexisting with underweight (aRR = 1.23) (95% CI = 1.03‒1.47). Overall, 343 (55%) children were discharged alive, 67 (11%) absconded from the wards, 164 (26%) were transferred to another hospital and 50 (8.0%) died before discharge. The risk of inpatient death was 10.3%, 7.9%, 8.4% and 6.8% among children not wasted, wasted only, wasted & underweight, and wasted and underweight and stunted respectively (Chi-square p = 0.60). The study reports an unacceptably high levels of undernourishment, including coexisting forms of undernutrition among hospitalised children. This highlights a public health priority for current nutrition therapeutic care and need of continuity of care among those children discharged alive in the community-based management of acute malnutrition programmes.

Indexed as

Growth DisordersThinnessWasting SyndromeChild, PreschoolFemaleHospitalizationHumansInfantKenyaMaleRetrospective StudiesRisk Factorscoexisting forms of undernutritionconcurrent wasting and stuntingKenyastuntingunderweightwasting

Identifiers

PMID39449066
PMCPMC11650073

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