Importance of postmortem anthropometric evaluation in defining the role of malnutrition as a cause of infant and child deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: a cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To evaluate how postmortem anthropometric malnutrition (PAM) measures align with expert panel attribution of malnutrition as a causal or significant condition in under-5 mortality (U5M).

Design

Cohort study using data from the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance network, incorporating clinical records, postmortem anthropometrics, minimally invasive tissue sampling, clinical abstraction and verbal autopsy to determine multiple causes of death.

Setting/participants

1405 deaths of children aged 1-59 months from six African countries between 2016 and 2023.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

PAM was determined using z-scores from the WHO Child Growth Standards: underweight (weight-for-age<(-2)), wasting (arm circumference-for-age or wei

SUBMITTER: Das PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11836817 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature