Abstracto

Feeding practices and nutritional status of children with rheumatic fever in Bangladesh.

Tazun Akhter, Ratna Khatun, Shima Begum, Shirin Sultana, Rita Khandaker, Faisal Muhammad

Background: The children must be well-nourished and healthy so as to grow into healthy adults. The growth and development of the children continues to be a major public health problem in Bangladesh. Objective: This study was aimed to identify the feeding practices and nutritional status of children with rheumatic fever in Bangladesh. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 110 children aged 5-15 years, who suffered from rheumatic fever and attended National Centre for Control of Rheumatic Fever and Heart Diseases (NCCRFand HD) during March to June of the year 2016. The instrument used for data collection was a semi-structured questionnaire. Data collection was done using face-to-face interview with parents/caregivers of the children. Data analysis was done by using SPSS version 16. Results: In this study more than half (53.6%) of the children were aged 13-15 years and 60.0% of them were males. Slightly above half (50.9%) of the respondents were from urban area and 67.3% of the family had ≥ 4 children. More than two-fifths (44.5%) of the respondent’s housing condition was semipacca and 45.5% of them lived at least 3 person per bedroom. Little above three-fifths (60.9%) of the children’s duration of suffering rheumatic fever was ≤ 48 months. About 73.6% of the children were fed colostrum. About 35.5% of the fathers had SSC level of education and 33.6% of the mothers had primary level of education. Conclusion: The overall nutritional status of the study participants (children) was not satisfactory. Our findings reveal that more than sixty percent of the children were underweight. The children should be properly immunized and vaccination program for the children against common infectious diseases of childhood should be provided.