Study of Severe Acute Malnutrition in Children Aged 0-59 Months Hospitalized in the Pediatric Department of Sikasso Hospital

Introduction: Malnutrition is a backdrop on which several infections are grafted. The implementation of WHO guidelines would significantly reduce hospital mortality due to severe malnutrition. General Objective: To evaluate the epidemio-clinical characteristics of severe acute malnutrition in children aged 0 to 59 months in the pediatric department of Sikasso hospital from 2015 to 2019. Methodology: The study was conducted in the pediatric department of Sikasso hospital. It was a cross-sectional study with retrospective data collection from January 2015 to December 2018 and prospective from January 2019 to December 2019, children aged 0 to 59 months hospitalized with a P/T ratio < -3 z score or a MUAC < 115mm or nutritional edema. Results: During the study period we had 11,255 cases of hospitalization including 190 cases of severe acute malnutrition in children aged 0 to 59 months, i.e. a frequency of 1.68%. The average age was 19 months with extremes ranging from 6 months to 48 months. The male sex dominated with 56% of cases with a sex ratio of 1.27. The unfavorable socio-economic conditions in the families were 66.32%. The most frequent reasons for consultations were fever and anorexia, respectively 75.79% and 65.26%. Fever was the most common complication, 76% of cases, followed by anemia and anorexia, respectively 65% and 63%. Malaria was the most associated pathology, 47.43%, followed by cases of gastroenteritis and pneumonia, respectively 20.57% and 17.71%. According to the outcome, 8% of malnourished people died.