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Background: Growth faltering is well-recognized during acute childhood illness and growth acceleration during convalescence, with or without nutritional therapy, may occur. However, there are limited recent data on growth after hospitalization in low- and middle-income countries., Methods: We evaluated growth following hospitalization among children aged 2-23 months in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Between November 2016 and January 2019, children were recruited at hospital admission and classified as: not-wasted (NW), moderately-wasted (MW), severely-wasted (SW), or having nutritional oedema (NO). We describe earlier (discharge to 45-days) and later (45- to 180-days) changes in length-for-age [LAZ], weight-for-age [WAZ], mid-upper arm circumference [MUACZ], weight-for-length [WLZ] z-scores, and clinical, nutritional, and socioeconomic correlates., Findings: We included 2472 children who survived to 180-days post-discharge: NW, 960 (39%); MW, 572 (23%); SW, 682 (28%); and NO, 258 (10%). During 180-days, LAZ decreased in NW (-0.27 [-0.36, -0.19]) and MW (-0.23 [-0.34, -0.11]). However, all groups increased WAZ (NW, 0.21 [95% CI: 0.11, 0.32]; MW, 0.57 [0.44, 0.71]; SW, 1.0 [0.88, 1.1] and NO, 1.3 [1.1, 1.5]) with greatest gains in the first 45-days. Of children underweight (<-2 WAZ) at discharge, 66% remained underweight at 180-days. Lower WAZ post-discharge was associated with age-inappropriate nutrition, adverse caregiver characteristics, small size at birth, severe or moderate anaemia, and chronic conditions, while lower LAZ was additionally associated with household-level exposures but not with chronic medical conditions., Interpretation: Underweight and poor linear growth mostly persisted after an acute illness. Beyond short-term nutritional supplementation, improving linear growth post-discharge may require broader individual and family support., Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationOPP1131320; National Institute for Health ResearchNIHR201813., Competing Interests: Members of the writing group declare having received support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for staff and research activities directly linked to this project which was paid to their universities or institutions (JAB, JLW, RHJB). Reimbursement for travel directly related to this project was also provided by BMGF and paid through the universities (JLW, JAB). JAB participated in a leadership role for the Commonwealth Association for Paediatic Gastroenterology & Nutrition (CAPGAN) and on a Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for a study regarding vitamin D., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the age and sex-specific prevalence of renal insufficiency, and observe its trends over a decade at an urban Bangladesh setup., Method: This was a cross-sectional study, in which we observed the Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) of 218,888 adults, aged ≥19 years, who had submitted their blood specimen to the Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) during the years 2006-2015. We applied CKD-EPI definition in estimating eGFR using their age-and sex-specific serum creatinine concentrations. Based on the eGFR, we classified the population into five stages of renal insufficiency (stage-1 to stage-5), at age intervals of five-years. Data were analysed using the Linear Regression and Multinomial Logistic Regression models., Results: Females constituted 43% (n = 94,931) of the study population; and 34% (n = 42,576) of the males and 31% (n = 29,830) of the females had their serum creatinine concentrations above the upper limit of the laboratory reference cut-off. The overall prevalence of stage-2 to stage-5 renal insufficiency were 24% (n = 52,126), 17% (n = 38,539), 8% (n = 16,504) and 6% (n = 12,665) respectively; the prevalence were 23% (n = 1,890), 19% (n = 1,579), 9% (n = 769) and 9% (n = 770) respectively in 2006, and 24% (n = 10,062), 17% (n = 6,903), 6% (n = 2,537) and 5% (n = 1,924) respectively in 2015. The prevalence was higher among the females. At least 2% of the adults, younger than <44 years, had stage-4 and stage-5 in 2015. The age-adjusted eGFR was significantly lower among the post-menopausal females (aged ≥46 y) compared to the same age group males (64.08±10.83 vs. 66.83±10.41 mL/min/1.73 m2; p<0.001). Compared to 2006, the number of individuals with renal insufficiency (stage 2 and above) had increased at least two times, irrespective of age, in 2015. A single year of increase in the age was significantly associated with 1.32 unit reductions in the eGFR; and the reductions were higher for females who also had higher odds of renal insufficiency stages-2 and beyond., Conclusion: This study observed high prevalence of stage-2 to stage-5 renal insufficiency in Bangladeshi populations, irrespective of age, and especially among the females., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.