Co-morbidities in hospitalized children with severe acute malnutrition.

OBJECTIVE To study the co morbidities in hospitalized children with severe acute malnourishment. METHODS 104 severe acute malnourished children were included. RESULTS 54% had diarrhea and 27.8% had acute respiratory tract infections. Tuberculosis was diagnosed in 22% of cases (60.8% cases in children 6-12 mo old). Malaria and Measles were diagnosed in 3.8% each, and HIV infection was seen in 2.9% cases. Signs of vitamin B and vitamin A deficiency were seen in 14.4% and 5.8% cases, respectively. Malaria and HIV were not found to be major co morbid conditions. CONCLUSIONS Timely identification and treatment of various co-morbidities is likely to break undernutrition-disease cycle, and to decrease mortality and improve outcome.