Original Research Article
Year: 2021 | Month: March | Volume: 11 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 105-111
Undernutrition and Mortality Risk of Children Hospitalized at Brazzaville University Hospital: Comparison of MUAC and Z-Weight-For-Height Z-Score vs PINI
Christel Mikolélé-Bilombo1; Lucie Charlotte Atipo-Ibara Ollandzobo1,2; Steve Vassili Missambou Mandilou2; Thibaut Ocko Gokaba Lethso1; Josué Simo Louokdom4; Clausina Mikolélé-Bilombo Ahoui1,3, Jean Robert Mabiala-Babela1,2, Jean-Rosaire Ibara1,3
1Faculty of Health Sciences, Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville-Congo.
2Department of Pediatrics, Teaching Hospital of Brazzaville, Brazzaville-Congo.
3Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Teaching Hospital of Brazzaville, Brazzaville-Congo.
4Cameroon Mountain University, Douala-Cameroon
Corresponding Author: Christel Mikolélé-Bilombo
ABSTRACT
Background: MUAC and the z-score for weight for height are the two anthropometric criteria for assessing undernutrition in community-based studies. The objective of this study was to describe the risk of mortality due to PINI in hospitalized underweight children.
Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study conducted in Brazzaville between October 2018 and April 2019 on 95 malnourished children aged 1-59 months. CRP, orosomucoid, albumin and transthyretin were determined using Roche's Cobas c311, which allowed the calculation of PINI. Software R (Core Team) 3.5.3. 2019 was used for the statistical analysis and the significance level was set at 0.05.
Results: According to MUAC, 29 children were severely malnourished and 23 were normalized, although they had been diagnosed as malnourished by the z-score. In correlation with PINI, although there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.431), 19 of the 23 normonutris were classified at risk of infectious complications by PINI. The z-weight-for-height score (acute undernutrition) affected 55 (57.9%) children, 26 (47.3%) of whom were severely affected. In correlation with PINI, only five were at no risk of infection, compared to six (12%) at high risk, and up to 12 (24%) at risk of mortality.
Conclusion: MUAC and the z-weight for height z-score remain of primary clinical diagnostic interest for hospitalized children in the management of undernutrition. However, PINI classifies the severity of undernutrition and catches up with children who were not detected as malnourished by the first two.
Key words: Undernutrition, mortality risk, MUAC, z-weight-for-height score, PINI.