Background

Wasting is nutrition problem during childhood. Diarrhea and acute respiratory infection (ARI), the major childhood illness, are contributed to wasting in children. The aim was to know association between infection diseases and wasting in infants age 6-11 months.

Materials and methods

A cross-sectional study of 176 infant age 6-11 months in Padang were assessed anthropometric, infection disease, immunization, vitamin A supplementation and maternal knowledge on nutrition. The ORs for diarrhea and ARI were estimated by using multiple regression models.

Results

The prevalence of wasting was 11.4%. Prevalence of diarrhea and ARI were 5.1% and 34.1%, respectively. Subjects with diarrhea had significantly higher risk of wasting than those in the normal after adjustment for maternal knowledge on nutrition (ORs = 5.31; 95%CI: 1.19,23.74; p = 0.029), but ARI did not show significantly after adjustment for maternal knowledge on nutrition.

Conclusions

Diarrhea was associated with wasting. Intervention to modify this condition through improving the maternal knowledge may help reduce excess wasting and prevent diarrhea among infants.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Andalas University for funding this study.