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Height and weight gains in a nutrition rehabilitation day-care service
Maria de Fátima Alves Vieira1, Alexandre Arcanjo Ferraro, Maria Helena do Nascimento Souza
1Faculdade de Nutrição, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Campus Universitário - CP 354, Pelotas/RS, Brazil. fvieira.nut@gmail.com
Insights
Children attending the Center of Nutritional Recovery and Education (CREN) showed significant nutritional recovery, with most regaining weight or height. Initial nutritional deficit strongly influenced recovery rates, more so than socioeconomic factors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Nutrition Science
- Public Health
Background:
- Undernutrition in children is a significant global health issue, impacting growth and development.
- The Center of Nutritional Recovery and Education (CREN) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, provides specialized outpatient care for undernourished children.
- Understanding nutritional recovery patterns is crucial for optimizing intervention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the patterns of nutritional recovery in undernourished children treated at CREN.
- To identify factors influencing the rate and extent of nutritional recovery in this cohort.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 106 children aged 0-72 months treated at CREN between 1995 and 1999.
- Nutritional status assessed using Z-scores for weight-for-age, height-for-age, and weight-for-height.
- Nutritional recovery defined by Z-score gains, with analysis of factors like treatment duration and initial nutritional status.
Main Results:
- Over 92% of children recovered weight or height, and 67.9% recovered both.
- Nearly half achieved a height-for-age Z-score increase >0.50 (46.2%), and 38.7% achieved a weight-for-age Z-score increase >0.50.
- Multivariate analysis indicated treatment duration and initial weight-for-age significantly predicted weight-for-age recovery (25% variation explained); treatment duration, initial height-for-age, and weight-for-age Z-score increment predicted height-for-age recovery (62% variation explained).
Conclusions:
- Nutritional recovery at CREN is strongly linked to the initial degree of undernutrition upon admission.
- Biological variables, particularly the severity of nutritional deficit, play a more critical role in recovery than socioeconomic status.
- The findings underscore the importance of early and comprehensive nutritional interventions for undernourished children.
Objective:
To evaluate nutritional recovery patterns in 106 undernourished children assisted by the Center of Nutritional Recovery and Education (CREN, in Portuguese) between January 1995 and December 1999.
Design:
CREN assists undernourished children aged 0 to 72 months living in the southern regions of Sao Paulo, in an outpatient setting. Nutritional status was assessed by Z-scores of weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height. Nutritional recovery evaluation considered Z-score gains in weight-for-age and height-for-age, grouping into four categories (Z-score increment of 0.50 between groups). Children with birth weight less than 2500 g were classified as low birth weight (LBW), while those born at term and with LBW were classified as small for gestational age.
Setting:
CREN (Center of Nutritional Recovery and Education in Portuguese), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Subjects:
One hundred and six children from CREN.
Results:
Among the 106 evaluated children, ninety-eight (92.5 %) recovered their weight or height and seventy-two (67.9 %) recovered both. Nearly half of studied children presented a nutritional recovery (increase in Z-score) of more than 0.50 in height-for-age (46.2 %) and about 40 % in weight-for-age (38.7 %). Multivariate analysis showed that treatment duration and initial weight-for-age contributed to weight-for-age Z-score increment, explaining 25 % of the variation; and treatment duration, initial height-for-age and weight-for-age Z-score increment contributed to height-for-age Z-score increment, explaining 62 % of the variation.
Conclusions:
Our findings show that nutritional recovery among children who attended CREN was influenced primarily by the degree of nutritional deficit at admission. It has also been shown that biological variables are more important than socio-economic status in determining the rate of nutritional recovery.
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