Prevalence of Undernutrition and Associated factors among children aged 6 to 59 months with Cerebal Palsy in the selected Rehabilitation Centers in Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

Background: In Uganda, Cerebral Palsy (CP) affects 2.7 per 1000 children and anecdotal evidence from rehabilitation centers indicate that CP predisposes those under five-years to undernutrition and its complications. Little is known on the prevalence of under nutrition and associated factors among the children with CP in the rehabilitation centers of Uganda. Objective: To determine the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among children aged between 6 and 59 months with CP in the selected RC in Uganda. Method: The prevalence of undernutrition (dependent variable) was defined by height for age, weight for height and weight for age with a standard deviation score of ≤ 2.0 using the current WHO Growth chart (2006) after performing the physical examination and anthropometric measurements on all the 168 children. Factors influencing undernutrition (independent variables) were identified using a modified poisson regression model to obtain prevalence ratios as a measure of association at 95% confidence intervals and multivariable logistic regression. The analysis used STATA which took into consideration the survey design effect such as the sampling weight. Results: Majority (53.6%) of the children were aged 12-35months with more than 64.3% being males. Most of the caregivers 91% were female and more than half (56%) had no income as well as 36% had no formal education or had stopped at primary level. Undernutrition among these children with CP is 61.2% with stunting (39.9%) and underweight (40.2%). Factors associated with undernutrition were; age of 1 to 5 years {12-35months (adj.PR=1.49; 1.01-2.19) & > 35 months (adj.PR=1.55;1.03-2.32)} and children whose meals consisted less than 3 food groups in a day who were 62% more likely to become undernourished than those with more than 4 food groups {adj.PR=0.62 (0.41 - 0.91) and Pvalue of 0.016}.Conclusion:The prevalence of undernutrition among children aged 6-59months with CP in the rehabilitation centers in Uganda is high (61.2%). The most prevalent forms being stunting (39.9%) and underweight (40.2%). The children aged 2 to 5 years and those consuming meals having less than 3 food groups per day are more at risk of becoming undernourished. There is need to promote nutrition and feeding practice interventions among children aged 6 to 59 months with cerebral palsy.