TY - JOUR
T1 - Ready-to-use therapeutic food for catch-up growth in children after an episode of Plasmodium falciparum malaria
T2 - an open randomised controlled trial.
AU - van der Kam, Saskia
AU - Swarthout, Todd
AU - Niragira, Oscar
AU - Froud, Alyson
AU - Sompwe, Eric Mukomena
AU - Mills, Clair
AU - Roll, Stephanie
AU - Tinnemann, Peter
AU - Shanks, Leslie
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Catch-up growth after an infection is essential for children to maintain good nutritional status. To prevent malnutrition, WHO recommends that children are given one additional healthy meal per day during the 2 weeks after onset of illness. We investigated to what extent ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) promotes catch-up growth in children after an acute, uncomplicated episode of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. We did an open randomised trial of children aged 6-59 months with confirmed malaria who attended a Médecins Sans Frontières-supported outpatient clinic in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. All children received a clinical examination and malaria treatment. Patients were then randomly assigned to either an RUTF group, who received daily supplemental RUTF (a high-protein peanut-based paste) for 14 days, or to a control group, who received no supplemental food. Children were weighed at baseline and on days 14 and 28. The primary outcome was mean weight change after 14 days' RUTF. Analysis was by intention-to-treat. 93 children received RUTF and 87 received no food supplementation. At day 14, the RUTF group had a mean weight gain of 353 g compared with 189 g in the control group (difference 164 [95%CI 52-277], p = 0.005). However, at day 28 there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (539 g versus 414 g, respectively [p = 0.053]). Similarly, rate of weight gain per kg bodyweight per day was significantly higher at day 14 in the RUTF group (2.4 g/kg per day versus 1.3 g/kg per day, p = 0.005) but at day 28 was 1.9 g/kg per day in the RUTF group versus 1.5 g/kg per day in the control group (p = 0.076). Children receiving RUTF for 14 days after effective treatment of an uncomplicated malaria episode had a faster weight gain than children not given supplementation, reducing the period that children were at risk of malnutrition. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00819858.
AB - Catch-up growth after an infection is essential for children to maintain good nutritional status. To prevent malnutrition, WHO recommends that children are given one additional healthy meal per day during the 2 weeks after onset of illness. We investigated to what extent ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) promotes catch-up growth in children after an acute, uncomplicated episode of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. We did an open randomised trial of children aged 6-59 months with confirmed malaria who attended a Médecins Sans Frontières-supported outpatient clinic in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. All children received a clinical examination and malaria treatment. Patients were then randomly assigned to either an RUTF group, who received daily supplemental RUTF (a high-protein peanut-based paste) for 14 days, or to a control group, who received no supplemental food. Children were weighed at baseline and on days 14 and 28. The primary outcome was mean weight change after 14 days' RUTF. Analysis was by intention-to-treat. 93 children received RUTF and 87 received no food supplementation. At day 14, the RUTF group had a mean weight gain of 353 g compared with 189 g in the control group (difference 164 [95%CI 52-277], p = 0.005). However, at day 28 there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (539 g versus 414 g, respectively [p = 0.053]). Similarly, rate of weight gain per kg bodyweight per day was significantly higher at day 14 in the RUTF group (2.4 g/kg per day versus 1.3 g/kg per day, p = 0.005) but at day 28 was 1.9 g/kg per day in the RUTF group versus 1.5 g/kg per day in the control group (p = 0.076). Children receiving RUTF for 14 days after effective treatment of an uncomplicated malaria episode had a faster weight gain than children not given supplementation, reducing the period that children were at risk of malnutrition. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00819858.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865850797&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0035006
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0035006
M3 - Article
C2 - 22558108
AN - SCOPUS:84865850797
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 7
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 4
M1 - e35006
ER -