Weight and mid-upper arm circumference gain velocities during treatment of young children with severe acute malnutrition, a prospective study in Uganda

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of 400 children admitted with severe acute malnutrition ^a

Characteristic	N
Child
Age (months)	400	15.0 (11.2; 19.2)
Female sex	400	170 (42%)
Weight-for-length/height Z-score	387	−2.9 (− 3.7; − 1.5)
Length/height-for-age Z-score	387	− 3.1 ± 1.4
Currently breastfeeding	374	54 (14%)
Edema	399
No		138 (35%)
Yes		261 (65%)
Diarrhoea	400	241 (60%)
Dehydration	395	10 (3%)
Tuberculosis suspected	400	76 (19%)
Pneumonia	400	68 (17%)
HIV status	368
Positive		43 (12%)
Negative, exposed		72 (20%)
Negative		253 (69%)
Serum C-reactive protein (mg/L)	352
< 10		134 (38%)
≥ 10		218 (62%)
Hemoglobin (g/dL)	298	8.9 (7.8; 10.1)
Severity of illness ^b	399	6.0 (5.0; 7.0)
Mother
Age	356	24.0 (21.0; 28.0)
BMI (kg/m²)	334	22.7 (20.9; 25.3)
Education	385
Primary		181 (47%)
Secondary or higher		153 (40%)
HIV positive	340	109 (32%)
Household	389
Household food insecurity access scale score ^c		5.8 ± 7.0

^a Data are number of children with data (N), and median (interquartile range) or mean ± standard deviation or number (%)
^b Evaluated by the caregiver on a visual analogue scale from 0 to 10, where 0 = perfectly healthy, 10 = as sick as I can imagine
^c A measure of food insecurity in the household in the past four weeks on a scale from 0 to 27; the higher the score, the more food insecure the household has been

ISSN: 2055-0928