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- Title
Health and nutritional status of children hospitalized during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangladesh.
- Authors
Nuzhat, Sharika; Hasan, Tafsir; Palit, Parag; Afroze, Farzana; Amin, Rukaeya; Alam, Ashraful; Alam, Baharul; Chisti, Mohammod J.; Ahmed, Tahmeed
- Abstract
Objective To compare the health and nutrition of children younger than 5 years admitted to hospital during and before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Bangladesh. Methods We collected data from hospital records of children 0-59 months admitted to the Dhaka Hospital of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh in March 2020--February 2021 (COVID-19 period; n = 2552) and March 2019--February 2020 (pre-COVID-19 period; n = 6738). Data collected included sociodemographic, anthropometric, clinical and biochemical characteristics. We compared these data for child admissions in the COVID-19 and pre-COVID-19 periods, including infants 0-11 months born during and before the pandemic and admitted to hospital. Findings Admissions of children as a percentage of total admissions were lower in March 2020 (2.47%; 63/2552) than March 2019 (8.30%; 559/6738), but increased to 20.61% (526/2552) in February 2021, three times greater than in the pre-COVID-19 period (6.69%; 451/6738). Children admitted during the COVID-19 period were significantly more likely to have dehydration, severe sepsis or septic shock, convulsions, hypernatraemia and raised creatinine than children admitted before the pandemic (P < 0.05). In infants < 6 months and those born during the pandemic, stunting and wasting were significantly higher than in infants in the pre-COVID-19 period (P < 0.05). The risk of death was higher in infants < 6 months during the pandemic (odds ratio: 1.66; 95% confidence interval: 0.95-2.92). Conclusion During the pandemic, children presented with more severe illness and poorer nutrition. Efforts are needed to reduce the adverse effects of the pandemic on the health and well-being of children.
- Subjects
BANGLADESH; NUTRITIONAL assessment; ACQUISITION of data methodology; CONFIDENCE intervals; ANTHROPOMETRY; HOSPITAL care of newborn infants; HEALTH status indicators; HYPERNATREMIA; SOCIOECONOMIC factors; SEPSIS; INFANT death; MEDICAL records; DEHYDRATION; MALNUTRITION; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; SEIZURES (Medicine); ODDS ratio; COVID-19 pandemic; SEPTIC shock; CREATININE
- Publication
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2022, Vol 100, Issue 2, p98
- ISSN
0042-9686
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2471/BLT.21.285579