Nutritional status of young children newly diagnosed with HIV-Infection at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Poor nutrition contributes to deaths associated with the infectious diseases especially among under-5 children in developing countries. The growth of young children could be impacted with increasing burden of HIV/AIDS and increasing food insecurity. This results in an increased malnutrition among this vulnerable group.

Objective: To determine the nutritional status of children aged ≤5 years newly diagnosed with HIV infection in UDUTH, Sokoto.

Methods: A prospective descriptive cross-sectional study among children aged ≤5 years newly diagnosed with HIV infection at the Paediatric units and Paediatric ART Clinic, UDUTH, Sokoto between January 1st, 2015 and December 31st 2019. The nutritional status was determined using WHO growth standards. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 and p-value ≤0.05 was taken as significant.

Results: Sixty-seven children aged ≤5 years were diagnosed with HIV infection in UDUTH within the period. Twenty (30.3%) were aged 1.1 – 2.0 years with the mean age of 2.9(±1.4) years. The M:F ratio approximately 2:1. Forty-five (67.2%) were from lower socio-economic class. Sixteen (23.9%) were diagnosed using PCR for HIV-DNA. Forty-eight (71.6%) presented in clinical stage I. Twenty-three (34.3%), 24 (35.8%) and 12 (17.9%) of the children were stunted, underweight and wasted respectively. The rate of undernutrition was found to be significantly related to the age of the child (p=0.03) and socio-economic status of the family (p=0.02).

Conclusion: The nutritional status of young children newly diagnosed with HIV infection was suboptimal and majority was stunted and underweight in our environment.