The incidence of malnutrition between 1 and 5 years of age on the basis of the preventive primary care data

Abstract

Malnutrition inhibits children from normal development and leads to irreversible consequences with respect to mental and physical performance. We analysed the aggregate data in the 2013–2015 reports of regional visiting nurses on the nutritional status of Hungarian children at the ages of 1, 3, and 5 years. In the regions of Hungary, stratum-specific proportions were calculated with 95% confidence intervals for the proportion of children with lower than a 10th percentile score. The proportions of malnutrition among children whose score was below the 10th percentile nationwide were 8.14% [8.03%–8.25%] at age 1, 6.87% [8.03%–8.25%] at age 3, and 5.68% [5.59%–5.78%] at age 5. In all three age groups, the proportion of children below the 10th percentile was significantly lower in the Central Hungarian region than in the national reference proportion and in Northern Hungary and the Southern Great Plain. These results indicate that Hungary’s incidence of malnutrition is no better than the worldwide average. To improve this situation, Hungarian healthcare professionals must at least begin following a precise, standardized protocol for the compulsory assessment of nutritional status in the framework of their reporting on the primary care of children.