Research Article - Journal of Public Health and Nutrition (2022) Volume 5, Issue 7

Prevalence and associated factors of under-nutrition among adult patients admitted to medical wards at public hospitals of Dire Dawa city administration and Harari regional state, Eastern Ethiopia.

Background: Malnutrition in hospitalized patients is a common public health problem that often under diagnosed and undertreated in hospital setting. However, there is no study conducted in Dire Dawa city administration and Harari regional state on prevalence of under nutrition among medical inpatients. Therefore, this study aimed to determinObjective: To assess prevalence and associated factors of under nutrition among adult patients admitted to medical wards at public hospitals of Dire Dawa city administration and Harari regional state from April 20/2019- June 20/ 2019. Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted using systematic random sampling technique with in the sample of 400 medical inpatients from four public hospitals of Dire Dawa and Harar regional state. Data was collected by anthropometric and face-to-face interview methods from each sampled patients. All analysis was done using SPSS version 24 and the variables which had significant association were identified on the basis of p-value ≤ 0.05, AOR and with 95% CI. Result: Prevalence of under nutrition among medically admitted patients was 50.4%. Eighty seven percent of patients were admitted and left the hospital undiagnosed to malnutrition. Age group of 40-49 years {AOR=2.17, 95% CI (1.010, 4.70), age of more than 50 years {AOR=4.93, 95% CI (2.288, 10.65)}, being illiterate {AOR=2.36, 95% CI (1.32, 4.22)}, being diagnosed with TB {AOR=2.75, 95% CI (1.248, 6.081), length of hospital stay >7 days {AOR=2.24, 95% CI (1.31, 3.83)} and having gastro-intestinal symptoms {AOR=2.54, 95% CI (1.455, 4.436)} were found to be statistically significant and independent predictors of under-nutrition. Conclusion: This study revealed high prevalence of under-nutrition among medical inpatients in the study area. Recognizing the burden of under-nutrition among hospital inpatients and screening who are at risk of malnutrition should be all health facility and health professional concern.

Author(s): Henok Yoseph*, Kedir Teji, Melake Demena

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