Treatment outcome of severe acute malnutrition in children with and without HIV infection: A Historical cohort study in South-West Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Studies on the treatment outcome of severe acute malnutrition in HIV/AIDS pediatric patients are scarce.
Objective: To compare the treatment outcome of severe acute malnutrition among human immunodefficiency virus (HIV) infected and uninfected children who were treated in Jimma University Specialized Hospital (JUSH) Pediatric Nutritional Rehabilitation Unit.
Methods and Materials: A historical cohort study was conducted in JUSH Pediatric ward on two hundred and fifteen children who were treated for severe acute malnutrition from January 2005 to December 2007. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 16, EPI info Version 3.1 and WHO Anthro software. Simple descriptive, univariate and multivariate analysis was done during the analysis.
Results: Among the 215 severely malnourished children 25 (11.6 %) were HIV infected. Half (48%) of children in each group were males and the mean age was 36 months for both groups. The rate of weight gain was 13.5 and 13.7grams/Kg/day for HIV infected and uninfected children, respectively. The recovery rate was 68% and 86.6% , and mortality was 16% and 2.6% in HIV infected and uninfected children but it was not statistically significant (P= 0.143, CI 95%).
Conclusion: Recovery rate and the rate of weight gain of HIV infected severely malnourished children is not significantly different from those with no HIV when they are treated according to the national protocol for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition. Different protocol is not required for treatment of severe acute malnutrition in children with HIV/AIDS.