Evaluation of Malnutrition in Children Admitted in Nutritional Rehabilitation Home of Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences- A Retrospective Cross-sectional Hospital Based Study

The burden of malnutrition is ofsignificant concern in Nepal. The objectives of this studyare to classify the nutritional status in children admittedin nutritional rehabilitation home of Pokhara Academyof Health Sciences and to relate the demographiccharacteristicsand the effectiveness of the nutritionalintervention measures on status of malnutrition whichcan help in the policy formulation to tackle the burdenof malnutrition. Materials and Methods: This is a hospital basedretrospective study in which total of 238 children withmalnutrition admitted in nutritional rehabilitation homeof Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences during July 2014to July 2018 were followed. The socio-demographicfactors and nutritional status were analyzed at admissionand at discharge using the available record. Data wasanalyzed using SPSS 16. Results: Out of 238 malnourished children, 167(70.2%)were cases of moderate acute malnutrition and 76(29.8%)were cases of severe acute malnutrition. The meanweight at admission was 7.18±1.73 kg, mean weight atdischarge was 7.82±1.82 kg and mean weight increasedafter nutritional intervention was 0.62 kg±0.40. Theaverage weight gain in severe acute malnutrition was4.7gm/kg/day. A statistically significant difference wasobtained between meanweight (p=0.00, t= - 24.62) ofchildren at admission and discharge.There was significantstatistical difference between mean weight gain (p<0.05,t= -3.1) in severe acute malnutrition (0.76±0.49 kg) andin moderate acute malnutrition (0.59±0.34 kg). Conclusion: Nutritional rehabilitation homes areeffective in improving the nutritional status ofundernourished children, more effective in severe acutemalnutrition. However it is important to reassess themanagement protocol to meet the intake targets so thatthe rate of weight gain is improved.