Prevalence And Predictors Of Hospital Malnutrition Among Under-Five Children In Zanzibar: A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study

ABSRTACT

Background: Hospitalized children are vulnerable to developing malnutrition due to the interaction of disease process, food and nutrition. Albeit this risk and evidence of its existence, little attention has been made to understand its determinants and status of hospital malnutrition among hospitalized children. Consequently, there is a gap in knowledge that this study has managed to address successfully

Objective: The study intended to assess the prevalence and predictors of hospital malnutrition among under-five children in Zanzibar.

Methods: Hospital-based cross-sectional analytical study design among 207 randomly selected hospitalized under-five children was employed in this study. The sampling procedure involved three stages. Data were collected from June-July 2020 using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. A standardized structured questionnaire and SGNA were adopted to measure the outcome variables. Data analysis was performed using SPSS, version 23. Descriptive analysis was used to determine the prevalence of hospital malnutrition and under-five socio-demographic characteristics. Chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between Hospital Malnutrition and predictors. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between variables. Confidence interval was set at 95% with a p-value ≤ 0.05 considered significant