Longitudinal trajectories of the overall and regional body composition between severe acute malnourished and well-nourished children of Rohingya refugee camps.

Objectives: The present study aimed to observe how body composition differs between severe acute malnutrition (SAM) (treated with ready-to-use therapeutic food, RUTF) and well-nourished children. Methods: A longitudinal investigation was conducted among well-nourished and SAM children of 6-59 months in Rohingya refugee camps. These two groups (350 children in each group) of children were observed over 12 weeks and individual data were collected during admission, follow-up visits, and at the time of discharge. Anthropometric information was collected following standard procedures. The thicknesses of the biceps, triceps, subscapular, and supra iliac skinfolds were measured using a Herpenden-type skinfold caliper. Separate linear mixed models were conducted to assess associations of the independent variables (i.e., group and time) with each of the dependent variables (i.e., biceps, triceps, subscapular, supra-iliac skinfold thickness (ST), fat mass (FM), and fat-free mass (FFM)). Results: Both in well-nourished and SAM children, the mean biceps, triceps, subscapular, and supra-iliac ST, FM, and FFM increased over the 12 weeks. The increase in biceps ST was significantly faster in the SAM children compared to the well-nourished children (difference in slope = 0.366 mm every four weeks; Conclusion: The benefit of RUTF was evident from this longitudinal study in the recovery of FM and FFM contents among the SAM children of Rohingya refugee camps.