Koetaan D, Smith A, Liebenberg A, Brits M, Halkas C, Van Lill M, Joubert G. The prevalence of underweight in children aged 5 years and younger attending primary health care clinics in the
Mangaung area, Free State.
Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med 2018;
10:e1-e5. [PMID:
29943597 PMCID:
PMC6018728 DOI:
10.4102/phcfm.v10i1.1476]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2017] [Revised: 01/11/2018] [Accepted: 01/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
The Constitution of South Africa stipulates that all children have the right to basic nutrition; however, a great number of South African children are underweight for age. It is important to address malnutrition as it is associated with more than 50% of all child deaths in developing countries and also increases the risk for infective diseases.
Aim
To determine the prevalence of underweight in children aged 5 years and younger attending primary health care clinics in the Mangaung area, Free State, and determine the possible underlying causes thereof.
Setting
Six preselected primary health care clinics in the Mangaung area.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional study. Demographic and clinical information and anthropometric measurements were collected from the children’s Road-to-Health clinic cards, obtained from the children’s caregivers.
Results
In total, 240 children were included, of which 51.7% were girls. The median age was 7.5 months. The weight-for-age graph revealed that 7.7% (95% confidence interval: 4.8%; 11.9%) of children were underweight or severely underweight for age. Length-for-age and weight-for-height graphs were mostly incomplete. Underweight children differed from normal weight children regarding birth weight (low birth weight 70.6% vs. 12.4%) and history of malnutrition (60.0% vs. 7.1%).
Conclusion
The prevalence of underweight in children aged 0–5 years attending primary health care clinics in Mangaung is 7.7% based on information available from Road-to-Health cards. This figure could be higher if these cards were filled in more accurately. A low birth weight and history of malnutrition are associated with underweight.
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