Subject: Child Health Nursing
Malnutrition is a general term for a medical condition caused by an improper or insufficient diet. It must often refer to under-nutrition resulting from inadequate consumption, poor absorption or excessive loss of nutrition but the term can also encompass over nutrition resulting from overeating or excessive intake of specific nutrients.The causes of protein-energy malnutrition: Poverty, low birth weight, Infections like diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, measles, whooping cough and tuberculosis and so on.Categories of protein-Energy malnutrition (PEM) according to the deficiency of protein and energy in varying degree, PEM is categorized into Mild PEM, Moderate PEM, and Severe PEM: kwashiorkor, Marasmus, Marasmic kwashiorkor.
Malnutrition is a general term for a health problem caused by a bad diet or not getting enough to eat. It usually means undernutrition caused by not eating enough, not absorbing enough, or losing too much nutrition, but it can also mean overnutrition caused by eating too much or taking in too much of certain nutrients.
Causes of protein-energy malnutrition:
Classification of Nutritional status:
Malnutrition is classified into different classes, some of them are:
Welcome trust classification:
This is based on weight for the Age of the child and the presence and absence of Edema:
Range of weight for agenda |
Edema +/- |
Nutritional status |
>80% 60-80% 60-80% <60% <60%
|
Absent Absent Present Absent Present |
Normal Undernutrition Kwashiorkor Marasmus Marasmic kwashiorkor |
Waterlow’s classification:
Based on the age of the child and the measurement of weight and height:
Weight for height |
Height for age |
Nutritional status |
>80% <80% >80% <80% |
>90% >90% <90% <90% |
Normal Wasted Stunted Wasted and stunted |
Indicators of malnutrition:
According to the deficiency of protein and energy in varying degree, PEM is categorized into:
Mild PEM
This is common in children between 9 months and 3 years of age characterized by growth failure, repeated infection, and lethargy. The main cause of mild PEM is deficit dietary intake for a short period.
Moderate PEM
If the child doesn't get enough food for a long time, he or she will develop moderate PEM. This is also called Ruche, which is a local language used for moderate PEM. Ruche means "crying children," which is a good way to describe what a child who is always crying is thinking. Most of the time, moderate PEM lasts from 1 to 4 years. Moderate PEM looks like mild PEM, but it's easier to spot because the symptoms are more obvious. For example, children with moderate PEM seem slower and less energetic, they stop growing (and gain weight), they have thin arms and legs, flattened buttocks with wrinkled skin on the front of their thighs, a winged scapula, a swollen abdomen, repeated infections, and they lose fat under their skin.
Severe PEM
Severe forms of PEM is manifested as kwashiorkor, marasmus, and marasmus kwashiorkor
Define malnutrition.
Malnutrition is the umbrella term for a medical condition brought on by an inadequate or improper diet. The term must frequently refer to undernutrition brought on by insufficient intake, poor absorption, or excessive nutrition loss, but it can also refer to overnutrition brought on by overeating or excessive intake of a particular nutrient.
List the causes of malnutrition ?
What are the categories of protein energy malnutrition?
Categories of protein-Energy malnutrition (PEM)
PEM is divided into the following categories based on the varied degrees of protein and energy deficiency:
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