Investigation of organic causes in patients diagnosed with malnutrition

Investigation Of Organic Causes in Patients Diagnosed With Malnutrition Introduction and Purpose: Malnutrition is defined as a nutritional disorder that leads to significant negative effects on body weight and functions due to deficiency or excess of protein, energy and other nutrients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anthropometric, epidemiological and laboratory findings of patients admitted to Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and diagnosed with malnutrition. Materials and Methods: Between 1 January 2023 and 1 February 2024, 156 patients aged between 1 month and 18 years who were admitted to Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and diagnosed with E.45: Developmental delay, protein energy malnutrition were included in the study as malnutrition group and 100 healthy children were included as control group. Results: In the malnutrition group 74(47.4%) were girls and 82(52.6%) were boys and in the healthy child control group 53(53%) were girls and 47(47%) were boys and no statistically significant difference was found between the groups according to gender (p=0.853). When the patients included in the study were compared according to age groups, it was found that the age group with the highest number of patients was the 60- 132 months age group with 60 patients. The distribution of the malnutrition group according to the Gomez Classification showed that 67.9% (n=106) had mild malnutrition, 25% (n=39) had moderate malnutrition and 7.1% (n=11) had severe malnutrition. In addition, statistically significant differences were found between the groups in mean WBC (103/μl), ferritin (ng/ml), vitamin B12 (pg/ml) and T4 levels (p=0.023, p=0.035, p=0.013, p=0.001, respectively). Conclusion: Malnutrition is a serious health problem for developing countries. While the diagnosis of severe malnutrition is usually made easily, the diagnosis of moderate or mild malnutrition may be difficult. In order to identify biomarkers that can be used for earlier and safer diagnosis, new multicentre, prospective studies with longer duration and larger number of patients are needed. Keywords: Malnutrition, organic causes, child.