Prevalence and Determinants of Undernutrition among People Living With HIV at Ngarama Hospital, Rwanda
Abstract
Background
Undernutrition is one of the important health problems in developing countries, which has undesirable health effect among people living with HIV (PLWHA).
Objectives
To determine prevalence and determinants of undernutrition among PLWHA in Ngarama District Hospital.
Methods
Cross sectional study was conducted among 267 PLWHA who were selected systematically as they came for care. Questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed.
Result
The prevalence of undernutrition was 22.0%. After controlling all the possible confounders using multivariable analysis, the following variables were predictors of undernutrition: respondents’ age 21 to 30 (AOR = 17.24; 95% CI = 5.55 – 53.56; p < 0.001) and 31 to 40 (AOR = 19.15; 95%CI = 5.97 – 61.40; p <0.001) compared to those aged 41 years and above, social category one (AOR = 3.54; 95%CI = 1.18 – 10.59; p = 0.024); experienced gastrointestinal discomfort (AOR = 19.87; 95%CI = 5.09 – 77.55; p <0.001) and not received dietary counseling (AOR = 7.45; 95%CI = 2.83 – 19.62; p <0.001).
Conclusion
The prevalence of undernutrition among PLWHA was high. Therefore, the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders should campaign, counsel and assist with provision of dietary diversity using locally available foods.
Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2022;5(3):291-301
Copyright (c) 2022 University of Rwanda
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
During the submission, authors will be requested to complete a ‘Copyright Transfer form' to assign to the University of Rwanda the copyright of the manuscript and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript (the "Article") in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication. The Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC-BY-NC-ND) license shall be applied.
