Abstract:

Background: Malnutrition remains a significant challenge for children diagnosed with sickle cell disease, particularly in developing countries like Tanzania. The dual burden of SCD and malnutrition remains a significant challenge, and the extent of this problem remains unclear.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of malnutrition and its associated factors among children with SCD at Bugando Medical Centre in Tanzania.

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional Analytical study design, and a total of 192 children were selected for anthropometric measurements from July to October 2023 at BMC. Social demographic and nutrition assessment information of children with sickle cell disease at the pediatrics clinic who met the inclusion criteria were recruited through direct interviews with questionnaires. Finally, linear regressions with both univalent and multivalent logistic were used to discover the association between SCD Children with stunting, wasting, and underweight combined with other factors.

Results: Of the 192 participants, 52.08% were male, and 66.15% were over 5 years old. The prevalence of malnutrition was 40.1%. The prevalence of stunting was 35/77(45.5%), wasting 6/77(7.8%), underweight 12/77(15.6%). Children with secondary school level of education (OR=4.627, p=0.025) and Tanner stage II (OR=2.291, p=0.012) were found to be associated with malnutrition.

Conclusion: The study found a high prevalence of malnutrition among children with SCD attending clinic at BMC. Among patterns of malnutrition, Stunting be the leading ones. Factor found to be associated with malnutrition were that of children with secondary schools level of education. This call upon the Ministry of Health (MOH) to advocate routine nutritional assessment with timely interventions for this vulnerable population.