ArticlePLOS global public health2025
Sex differences in severe acute malnutrition in children under 5 years in Zambia.
Article in PLOS global public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Prevalence and risk factors of malnutrition in elderly hospitalized patients with post-stroke dysphagia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is a critical public health issue, particularly in low and middle-income countries like Zambia, where it significantly contributes to under-five mortality. While general factors associated with SAM, including its overall burden, are well documented, the role of sex differences in correlates of SAM has not been thoroughly explored. Hence, this study aimed to examine sex differences in correlates of SAM by identifying key factors influencing malnutrition in males and females under five years, with particular attention to comorbid conditions such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Tuberculosis (TB), which are known to complicate malnutrition in this population. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study utilizing data from 429 medical records of children aged 6 months to 5 years who were attended to at Livingstone University Teaching Hospital between 2020 and 2022. The median age at diagnosis for both males and females was 18 months, with interquartile ranges of 11-25 months and 12-24 months, respectively. Females had a higher prevalence of SAM (24.3%, n = 46) compared to males (19.58%, n = 47). TB was significantly associated with SAM in both males (AOR: 14.30, 95% CI: 2.08-98.5, p = 0.006) and females (AOR: 40.50, 95% CI: 4.83-340, p < 0.001), and the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio was also associated with SAM in males (AOR: 1.39, 95% CI: 1.05-1.83, p = 0.017) and females (AOR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.00-1.49, p = 0.045). Additionally, comorbidities (AOR: 4.1, 95% CI: 1.13-14.90, p = 0.031) and age (AOR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.85-0.97, p = 0.009) were associated with SAM in females, while these associations were not significant in males. Overall, females are more frequently diagnosed with SAM, most likely due to the presence of comorbidities such as TB and HIV. TB was found to be a critical risk factor for SAM in both sexes, highlighting the need for sex-specific interventions in the management of SAM.
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.