The frequency of appetite loss and determination of affecting factors in children aged between six months and six years

Aim and Background: Appetite can be defined as a conscious desire for food, whereas loss of appetite is defined as the inability to perceive hunger along with lack of desire to eat any food, and rejection of nutrients, essential for adequate growth and development, for various reasons. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of loss of appetite, which is an increasingly common problem, and describe the underlying causes. Thus, growth and developmental deficiencies resulting from loss of appetite among children can be prevented. Material and methods: This study was carried out in Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Paediatrics. It was carried out on 800 healthy children aged 0-6 years those referring to the "General Pediatrics" and "Well-Child" outpatient clinics for routine health care visits who agreed to fill out questionnaire. The incidence of loss of appetite was assumed to be 47% and a difference of approximately 5% was predicted and the minimum sample size was decided as 784. The participants were surveyed about their demographic information and feeding habits. The obtained data were evaluated in SPSS 22.00 package program and P<0.05 values were considered statistically significant. Results: The study was carried out with 800 cases (390 female / 410 male) with a mean age of 52.67 ±19.93 months (6.00-72.00). Loss of appetite was found to be more frequent in children of mothers with lower body weight (p <0.05). Height percentile in majority of the children with loss of appetite were three or below (p <0.05). Loss of appetite was found to be more frequent in children with uneducated mothers (p <0.05). It was observed that the loss of appetite is more frequent in the children of mothers who felt unhappy or worthless during pregnancy (p <0.05). Loss of appetite was encountered significantly more in children who did not have a regular three meals a day diet (p <0.05). Lose of appetite was observed to be more frequent in children whose mothers stated that they force fed their children (p <0.05). Conclusion: Loss of appetite is one of the most common health problems that mothers complain about today. Mothers' body weight, illnesses during pregnancy, feeling unhappy, parents' education levels, transition to supplementary food in children, type and characteristics of preferred supplementary food, regularity of meal times and eating three meals a day with the family are some of the factors affecting the loss of appetite. The importance of identifying and resolving the causes of loss of appetite and providing appropriate training for caregivers has been demonstrated. Keywords: Loss of appetite, Picky eating, Fussy eating, Food neophobia.