Risk factors and severity of malnutrition in children less than 5 years of age admitted in the department of pediatrics,sheikh zayed medical college hospital rahim yar khan

Objective: to evaluate the risk factors and severity of malnutrition according to gomez classification,in children less than 5 years of age admitted in the department of pediatrics,sheikh zayed medical college hospital,rahim yar khan. study design: cross-sectional analytical place and duration of study: children ward,sheikh zayed medical college and hospital,rahim yar khan from january 2012 to august 2012. methodology: 450 consecutive patients of malnutrition were included in this study. all of them were admitted in children ward,sheikh zayed medical college hospital,rahim yar khan. detailed history was taken to sort out the risk factors of malnutrition. for assessment and to classify the severity of malnutrition,we used gomez classification. results: there were several factors which were found to be very important. those were poverty (93.55%),lack of knowledge about health care (77.77%),food fads and taboos (60%). mostly children had grade 3 malnutrition. conclusion: poverty,lack of knowledge about health care,presence of food fads / taboos are the major risk factors for malnutrition in our area especially in those children who are living in remote areas. mostly the children below five years of age were suffering from grade 3 malnutrition.