Malnutrition including vitamin A and iron deficiency and parasitic diseases have a strikingly similar geographical distribution with the same people experiencing both insults together for much of their lives. Parasitic infections are thought to contribute to child malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency through subtle reduction in digestion and absorption, chronic inflammation and loss of nutrients. Parasites may affect the intake of food; it's subsequent digestion and absorption, metabolism and the maintenance of nutrient pools. The most important parasites related to nutritional status are intestinal parasites especially soil transmitted helminthes, Giardia duodenalis, Entamoeba histolytica, followed by other parasites such as the coccidia, Schistosoma sp. and malarial parasites.
Malnutrition is highly prevalent in Malaysian dialysis patients and there is a need for a valid screening tool for early identification and management. This cross-sectional study aims to examine the sensitivity of the Dialysis Malnutrition Score (DMS) and Malnutrition Inflammation Score (MIS) tools in predicting protein-energy wasting (PEW) among Malaysian dialysis patients.
Anthropometric and parasitological data from cross-sectional studies of two groups of primary school children (Group I of Indian origin, 325 boys and 259 girls, age = 7 years; Group II of Malay origin, 284 boys and 335 girls, age = 7-9 years) from two different ecological settings in Peninsular Malaysia were examined for epidemiological evidence of an association between hookworm infection and protein-energy malnutrition. In both ecological groups, significant weight, height and haemoglobin deficits were observed in children with hookworm infection after adjustment for covariables including Ascaris and Trichuris infection intensities and other child and family characteristics. The deficits were related to the intensity of infection based on egg counts. These findings suggest that hookworm may be an important determinant of chronic protein-energy malnutrition, as well as anaemia, in areas where diets are generally inadequate in protein, energy, and iron. Well-controlled intervention studies are needed to confirm these observations.
This study aims to determine the prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition and its association with soil-transmitted helminthiases in Orang Asli (Aborigine) children in Selangor, Malaysia. The results obtained from 368 children aged 2-15 years showed that the overall prevalence of mild and significant underweight was 32.1% and 56.5% respectively. The prevalence of mild stunting was 25.6% while another 61.3% had significant stunting. The overall prevalence of mild and significant wasting was 39.0% and 19.5% respectively. The overall prevalence of ascariasis, trichuriasis and hookworm infection were 61.9%, 98.2% and 37.0% respectively and of these 18.9%, 23.5% and 2.5% of the children had severe infection of the respective helminthes. The overall prevalence of giardiasis was 24.9%. The present study vividly shows that stunting and underweight are highly prevalent among Orang Asli children and therefore of concern in this community. In this population intestinal parasitic infections, especially severe trichuriasis and giardiasis, were identified as the main predictors of stunting and wasting respectively, in addition to age between 2 to 6 years.