Prevalence and Associated Factors of Malnutrition in Patients with Intracranial Infections at Sanglah Hospital Denpasar

Abstract Malnutrition is a major health problem in developing countries, it can occur acutely, chronically or combination of both. Malnutrition aggravates the condition of infectious diseases, including intracranial infections. Hereby we aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with malnutrition in pediatric patients with intracranial infections in Sanglah Central General Hospital. This cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in patients with final diagnosis intracranial infection whom were treated from January 2019 to March 2021. The study was conducted in pediatric patients aged 1 month-18 years old and patient would be excluded if had any of these conditions: 1) incomplete medical records, 2) discharge by his/her own request, 3) hydrocephalus for which VP shunt had not been performed, 4) diagnosis of tumor or mass that could affect body weight measurement. Secondary data such as weight/height for children <5 years and BMI/age for children >5 years were measured in growth curve by using the WHO Anthro application. Total samples were 83 children with predominance age group was 0-5 years old. Malnutrition was found in 48.1% patients. Chronic malnutrition was more common than acute malnutrition (32.5% vs. 31.3%). Age below 5 years has relationship with the incidence of acute malnutrition in pediatric patients with intracranial infection (p: 0.008, 95% CI: 0.076-0.675). The incidence of malnutrition in children with intracranial infections in Sanglah Hospital during January 2019 to March 2021 was 48.1%, and age < 5 years had significant relation to the incidence of malnutrition in children with intracranial infections. Keywords: Malnutrition; Pediatric; Intracranial infection; Acute