Nutritional status and severity of diarrhoea among pre-school children in rural Nigeria.

The influence of pre-existing malnutrition on the severity of diarrhoea was investigated by assessing attack-rate and duration of diarrhoea in children aged between 6 months and 32 months at the beginning of the rainy season in Malumfashi village area, northern Nigeria. There were 1.4 attacks of diarrhoea per child during the 3 month rainy season and children spent 10.5% of the time with diarrhoea. The frequency of diarrhoea was not increased in underweight (less than 75% weight/age) or stunted (less than 90% height/age) children, but those who were wasted (less than 80% weight/height) experienced 47% more episodes of diarrhoea than those who were not wasted. However, pre-existing malnutrition affected the duration of diarrhoea, which was 33% longer in underweight children, 37% longer in stunted children, and 79% longer in wasted children.