Prevalencia de desnutrición crónica en niños menores a cinco años del Centro de Salud Carlos Elizalde en el período 2020 y 2021.

Abstract

Background: Chronic childhood malnutrition (CCM) is considered one of the biggest public health problems in Ecuador, affecting 1 of every 4 children under five years. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) and the National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT), the CCM in children under two has increased from 2014 (24.8%) to 2018 (27.2%) (1). Objective: Determine the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children under five years who attended the Carlos Elizalde Health Center in 2020 and 2021. Methodology: Descriptive, quantitative study with a non-experimental and cross-sectional design. Results: The data of 1,521 children under five years of age who attended the “Carlos Elizalde” Health Center during the periods 2020 and 2021 were analyzed, corresponding to 806 and 715 respectively, whose CCM prevalence was 17.36% (n=140) in 2020 and 15.53% (n=111) in 2021; 56.4% (n=79) belonged to the male sex and 43.6% (n=61) to the female sex in 2020, and in 2021 the male sex was more significant than the female with 52.3% (n=58) over 47.7% (n=53). Conclusions: It was observed that the prevalence of CCM decreased by 1.83 percentage points (17.36% to 15.53%) comparing the year 2020 to 2021. In addition, the sex with the highest prevalence is male, a trend that reflects and is corroborated in some studies that have been previously carried out.