Neonatal and Pediatric Medicine
Open Access

Concurrent wasting and stunting among under‐five children A five-year hospital-based study

Background: Wasting and stunting can co-exist in the same setting and occur within the same child. Both share common risk factors and each increase the risk for developing the other, that is being wasted may increase the risk of subsequent stunting and vice versa.

Objective: The study conducted with the aim to evaluate the frequency of stunting among severely wasted hospitalized children.

Methods: A retrospective observational study used data generated from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) registries of children 06 – 59 months old with complicated severe wasting admitted to the Therapeutic Feeding Center’s (TFC) of Al-Sadaka Teaching hospital, Aden/Yemen during five years (2018 to 2022).

Results: A total 1.461 severely wasted children were admitted during the study period. More than one third was severely stunted and the majority were stunted (severe and moderate). More than half of the stunted children were from the age group 6-12 months and more than 90% were from 6-24 months’ age group.

Conclusions: The study findings provide evidence of co-existence, early in life, of stunting among severely wasted children. Wasting and stunting both need to be addressed simultaneously to reduce associated short and long term irreversible consequences

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