Anemia and metabolic acidosis as risk factor of mortality in children with severe acute malnutrition
Mortality is still high among children with severe acute malnutrition who require hospitalization. This study investigated the factors independently related to the mortality among hospitalized children with severe acute malnutrition. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a single tertiary referral hospital in Bali, Indonesia from January 2017 to December 2018. A logistic regression test was used to analyze the factors independently related to mortality. Significantly differences were considered if P-value less than 0.05. A total of 138 children with severe acute malnutrition was fulfilled the study criteria, 83 children (60.1%) were male, 79 children (57.2%) were a toddler and 133 children (96.4%) were classified as marasmus. The mortality was found in 60 children (43.4%). On multivariate logistic regression analysis found anemia (aOR 8.6, 95%CI: 2.4 to 30.5, P = 0.001) and metabolic acidosis (aOR 3.4, 95%CI: 1.3 to 9.1, P = 0.01) were statistically significant. It can be concluded that the mortality rate among children with severe acute malnutrition is still high and anemia as well as metabolic acidosis are factors independently related to this mortality.