Factores de riesgo en desnutrición infantil por déficit

Abstract

Introduction: Malnutrition is an incomplete intake of nutrients that usually occurs in children, approximately representing half of all child deaths worldwide, affecting nearly 20 million children of preschool age. Severe malnutrition in 2018 had an estimated prevalence of 16.6 million severely emaciated children under 5 years of age. Anthropometric malnutrition can occur in three forms: emaciation, growth retardation, and low weight. Studies have explained the occurrence of acute malnutrition through household characteristics, socioeconomic levels, parental education, and area where they live. Objective: To describe the risk factors that influence child malnutrition due to deficit, by reviewing updated scientific articles. Methodology: Descriptive study based on the systematic review of scientific articles in different scientific journals of the last 5 years. Conclusion: Malnutrition is a nutrient deficit that manifests as overweight or underweight and mainly affects children, causing unfortunate consequences for healthy growth and general development. Malnutrition represents around 80% in low- and middle-income countries. In Ecuador, the reduction in chronic malnutrition has been 0.9% on average since 2014-2018. Child malnutrition being a very common disease in underdeveloped countries, prevention is necessary, due to its high morbidity and mortality.