Under nutrition and measles related complications in an outbreak of measles.

ABSTRACT

An outbreak of measles was reported from Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The authors investigated this outbreak with an objective to describe the under nutrition and measles related complications. A total of 723 children aged 12-59 months were included in this study. Their caregiver was interviewed for necessary information and Mid Upper Arm Circumference measurement of the affected child was done for the assessment of nutritional status. 171 (22.3%) of these had reported to have suffered from one or more measles related complication. 556 (76%) of the measles cases in this study were undernourished. Measles related complications was more among measles affected children who were severely undernourished (38%) in comparison to other groups (chi2 = 97.80; d.f. = 1; p<0.0001).