Socio-economic factors, feeding behavior and hygiene of children admitted to the nutritional rehabilitation center at a secondary care hospital

Social class, hygiene, and feeding behavior determine the status of nutrition in children during the first 1000 days of life. This study aimed to evaluate the association of the above factors with the need for admission to nutrition rehabilitation.

This prospective study was conducted in the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) of a secondary care center from April 2019 to March 2020. Convenience sampling was applied for the selection of study participants. Information about all the children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) was collected and documented, such as age, gender, social class, hand washing habits, breastfeeding, age of starting complementary feeding, anthropometry, and medical complications.

During the study period, 398 children with SAM were admitted to NRC. Moreover, 71.86% (n=286) of children were from 7 to 24 months and 88.43% (n= 352) of the children belonged to the families with upper/lower and lower socioeconomic status. Poor hand washing habits were seen in 36.18% (n=144) of families. The mean weight gain per child during a hospital stay was 8.3 gm/kg/day.

Inadequate complementary feeding practices and poor hygiene are the most common preventable causes leading to malnutrition and the majority of admissions to the NRC occurring before the age of two years.