Nutritional Status of Diarrhoeic Patients under Five Years Attending Selected Hospitals in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Poor nutritional status show physical, mental and health wise consequences such as diarrhoea, stunting, wasting and underweight and often times lead to death, depending on their severity. This study evaluated the nutritional status of diarrhoeic children under five years in Kaduna State, Nigeria, using standard isolation methods, VTEC-ELISA tests, latex agglutination tests, Chi-square (SPSS Version 19) and World Health Organisation Antro (Version 3.2.2). Random sampling was used to select 350 children presenting with diarrhoea in six government hospitals within the three senatorial zones of Kaduna State. The nutritional status assessment showed 34.3, 24.3 and 13.1% of the children were stunted, wasted and underweight, respectively and Kaduna South senatorial zone also recorded the highest prevalence of undernutrition, indicating poor nutrition and poor health accumulated overtime. The study therefore recommends the implementation of programmes geared towards good hygiene, good nutrition and good health.