Journal Article > ResearchFull Text
PLOS One. 2012 December 7; Volume 7 (Issue 12); DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0050982
Dorion C, Hunter PR, Roure C, Delchevalerie P, Reid AJ, et al.
PLOS One. 2012 December 7; Volume 7 (Issue 12); DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0050982
With an increasing move towards outpatient therapeutic feeding for moderately and severely malnourished children, the home environment has become an increasingly important factor in achieving good program outcomes. Infections, including those water-borne, may significantly delay weight gain in a therapeutic feeding program. This study examined the relationship between adequacy of water supply and children's length of stay in a therapeutic feeding program in Niger.
Journal Article > ResearchAbstract
Matern Child Nutr. 2016 July 25; Volume 13 (Issue 3); DOI:10.1111/mcn.12345
Grijalva-Eternod CS, Kerac M, McGrath M, Wilkinson C, Hirsch JC, et al.
Matern Child Nutr. 2016 July 25; Volume 13 (Issue 3); DOI:10.1111/mcn.12345
Evidence on the management of acute malnutrition in infants aged less than 6 months (infants <6mo) is scarce. To understand outcomes using current protocols, we analysed a sample of 24 045 children aged 0-60 months from 21 datasets of inpatient therapeutic care programmes in 10 countries. We compared the proportion of admissions, the anthropometric profile at admission and the discharge outcomes between infants <6mo and children aged 6-60 months (older children). Infants <6mo accounted for 12% of admissions. The quality of anthropometric data at admission was more problematic in infants <6mo than in older children with a greater proportion of missing data (a 6.9 percentage point difference for length values, 95% CI: 6.0; 7.9, P < 0.01), anthropometric measures that could not be converted to indices (a 15.6 percentage point difference for weight-for-length z-score values, 95% CI: 14.3; 16.9, P < 0.01) and anthropometric indices that were flagged as outliers (a 2.7 percentage point difference for any anthropometric index being flagged as an outlier, 95% CI: 1.7; 3.8, P < 0.01). A high proportion of both infants <6mo and older children were discharged as recovered. Infants <6mo showed a greater risk of death during treatment (risk ratio 1.30, 95% CI: 1.09; 1.56, P < 0.01). Infants <6mo represent an important proportion of admissions to therapeutic feeding programmes, and there are crucial challenges associated with their care. Systematic compilation and analysis of routine data for infants <6mo is necessary for monitoring programme performance and should be promoted as a tool to monitor the impact of new guidelines on care.
Journal Article > ResearchAbstract
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2013 March 6 (Issue 5)
Ali E, Zachariah R, Shams Z, Vernaeve L, Alders P, et al.
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2013 March 6 (Issue 5)
Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ) identify different populations of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) with only some degree of overlap. In an urban slum in Bangladesh, we conducted a prospective cohort study on children assessed as being severely malnourished by WHZ (<-3) but not by MUAC (>115 mm), to: 1. Assess their nutritional outcomes, and 2. Report on morbidity and mortality.
Journal Article > ResearchFull Text
Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN). 2007 April 1 (Issue 30); 22.
Van Herp M, Werwulgen A, Leurquin B, Delchevalerie P
Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN). 2007 April 1 (Issue 30); 22.
Journal Article > ResearchAbstract
Matern Child Nutr. 2013 May 6; Volume 11 (Issue 4); DOI:10.1111/mcn.12050
Ali E, Zachariah R, Shams Z, Manzi M, Akter T, et al.
Matern Child Nutr. 2013 May 6; Volume 11 (Issue 4); DOI:10.1111/mcn.12050
Within a Medecins Sans Frontieres's nutrition programme in Kamrangirchar slum, Dhaka, Bangladesh this study was conducted to assess the acceptability of a peanut-based ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) - Plumpy'nut(®) (PPN) among malnourished pregnant and lactating women (PLW). This was a cross-sectional survey using semi-structure questionnaire that included all PLW admitted in the nutrition programme, who were either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition and who had received PPN for at least 4 weeks. A total of 248 women were interviewed of whom 99.6% were at risk of malnutrition. Overall, 212 (85%) perceived a therapeutic benefit. Despite this finding, 193 (78%) women found PPN unacceptable, of whom 12 (5%) completely rejected it after 4 weeks of intake. Reasons for unacceptability included undesirable taste (60%) and unwelcome smell (43%) - more than half of the latter was due to the peanut-based smell. Overall, 39% attributed side effects to PPN intake including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal distension and pain. Nearly 80% of women felt a need to improve PPN - 82% desiring a change in taste and 48% desiring a change in smell. Overall, only 146 (59%) understood the illustrated instructions on the package. Despite a perceived beneficial therapeutic effect, only two in 10 women found PPN acceptable for nutritional rehabilitation. We urge nutritional agencies and manufacturers to intensify their efforts towards developing more RUTF alternatives that have improved palatability and smell for adults and that have adequate therapeutic contents for treating malnourished PLW in Bangladesh.
Journal Article > Meta-AnalysisFull Text
BMC Pediatr. 2010 June 29; Volume 126 (Issue 1); DOI:10.1542/peds.2009-2175
Delchevalerie P, Van Herp M
BMC Pediatr. 2010 June 29; Volume 126 (Issue 1); DOI:10.1542/peds.2009-2175
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to estimate the accuracy of using mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) measurements to diagnose severe wasting by comparing the new standards from the World Health Organization (WHO) with those from the US National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and to analyze the age independence of the MUAC cutoff values for both curves. METHODS: We used cross-sectional anthropometric data for 34,937 children between the ages of 6 and 59 months, from 39 nutritional surveys conducted by Doctors Without Borders. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to examine the accuracy of MUAC diagnoses. MUAC age independence was analyzed with logistic regression models. RESULTS: With the new WHO curve, the performance of MUAC measurements, in terms of sensitivity and specificity, deteriorated. With different cutoff values, however, the WHO standards significantly improved the predictive value of MUAC measurements over the NCHS standards. The sensitivity and specificity of MUAC measurements were the most age independent when the WHO curve, rather than the NCHS curve, was used. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the need to change the MUAC cutoff value from <110 mm to <115 mm. This increase of 5 mm produces a large change in sensitivity (from 16% to 25%) with little loss in specificity, improves the probability of diagnosing severe wasting, and reduces false-negative results by 12%. This change is needed to maintain the same diagnostic accuracy as the old curve and to identify the children at greatest risk of death resulting from severe wasting.