Characteristics of severely malnourished under‐five children hospitalized with diarrhoea, and their policy implications

AIM: Identify clinical and nutritional features, and complications among severely malnourished, under-five children in an urban diarrhoeal disease facility in Bangladesh. METHODS: For this case-control design, children of both sexes, aged 0-59 months were studied. Severely ( or = -3) constituted controls. RESULTS: During 2000-2005, of the total 6881 children, 1103 (16%) were severely underweight, 705 (11%) severely stunted and 217 (3%) severely wasted. In logistic regression analysis, severely underweight children were more likely to be older than 11 months (OR 3.7, 95% CI 3.1-4.3, p or = 48 h (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.8-2.5, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: There thus is a need to incorporate appropriate, cost-effective and sustainable preventive strategies and improved management policies in the health systems as well as in social support systems in Bangladesh.