Time to recovery from severe acute malnutrition and predictors among children aged 6–59 months at public hospitals: retrospective follow-up study

Severe acute malnutrition is a major cause of illness and death among children under the age of five<br> in Ethiopia. However, there is limited evidence regarding the success of treatment and the length<br> of hospital stays for children with severe acute malnutrition. The objective of this research was to<br> assess the recovery period from severe acute malnutrition and determine potential predictors of<br> recovery. A retrospective follow-up study was conducted. Children aged 6–59 months with severe<br> acute malnutrition who had been treated at the therapeutic feeding unit were selected using a simple<br> random sampling technique. The data was analyzed using Stata v14. Descriptive statistics were<br> used to compute the nature of the variables. Kaplan-Meier with the log-rank test was used to test<br> for the presence of differences in categorical variables. Model goodness of fit and assumptions were<br> checked by the Cox-Snell residual and global tests, respectively. A p-value of 0.25 in the bivariable<br> Cox regression analysis was used for the multivariable Cox regression analysis. Variables with p values<br> less than 0.05 in the multivariable Cox regression were considered significant predictors of recovery<br> time from severe acute malnutrition. In this study, the median recovery time was nine days, with<br> an interquartile range of 7 to 11 days. The incidence rate of recovery was 11.24%. Children who had<br> marasmus, pneumonia at admission, anemia at admission, had not been fully vaccinated, had not<br> received vitamin A, and had not received plumpy’Nut had a statistically significant association with<br> the time to recovery of severe acute malnutrition. Marasmus, pneumonia, and anemia at admission<br> were the predictors that delayed the recovery time of children from their severe acute malnutrition.<br> On the contrary, children who had been given vitamin A and plumpy nuts were the predictors that<br> fastened recovery time. Therefore, special attention should be given to children who have marasmus,<br> comorbidities like pneumonia, and anemia to shorten their recovery time from their severe acute<br> malnutrition status.<br>