article · Epidemiology and Health
A retrospective study of 423 children under five years old admitted for severe acute malnutrition at Yekatit 12 Hospital evaluated recovery durations and contributing clinical factors. The nutritional recovery rate reached 81.3 per cent, with a median hospital stay of 15 days, aligning with international Sphere standards. However, roughly 13 per cent of admitted children experienced prolonged hospitalisation lasting over 28 days. Several clinical factors significantly influenced recovery speed. Children who achieved daily weight gain of at least eight grams per kilogram, had complete vaccination records, or received deworming treatment recovered more quickly. In contrast, older age, stunting, pneumonia, and shock were associated with longer hospital stays. Specifically, each one-month increase in child age decreased the likelihood of timely recovery by nearly two per cent, showing the strong influence of underlying health conditions on treatment duration.
Severe acute malnutrition remains a critical child health challenge where extended hospital stays strain healthcare facilities and families. Knowing which conditions speed up or hinder recovery helps clinical teams anticipate patient needs and allocate resources more efficiently. Identifying risk factors such as pneumonia or missing vaccinations highlights essential routine interventions that can improve treatment outcomes and reduce prolonged hospitalisations.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
OBJECTIVES: Recovery time from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is often a neglected topic despite its clinical impact. Although a few studies have examined nutritional recovery time, the length of hospitalization in those studies varied greatly. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the recovery time from SAM and to identify predictors of length of hospitalization among under-5 children. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 423 under-5 children with SAM who had been admitted to Yekatit 12 Hospital. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate time to nutritional recovery, and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to determine independent predictors. RESULTS: The nutritional recovery rate was 81.3%, and the median recovery time was 15.00 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 13.61 to 16.39). Age, daily weight gain per kilogram of body weight, vaccination status, and the existence of at least 1 comorbidity (e.g., pneumonia, stunting, shock, and deworming) were found to be significant independent predictors of nutritional recovery time. The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for nutritional recovery decreased by 1.9% for every 1-month increase in child age (aHR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97 to 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: The overall nutritional recovery time in this study was within the Sphere standards. However, approximately 13.0% of children stayed in the hospital for more than 28.00 days, which is an unacceptably large proportion. Daily weight gain of ≥8 g/kg, full vaccination, and deworming with albendazole or mebendazole reduced nutritional recovery time. Conversely, older age, pneumonia, stunting, and shock increased nutritional recovery time.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.4178/epih.e2020003
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
