Weight-for-age of children admitted to the Ethio-Swedish Children's Hospital, Addis Ababa, 1978.

The weight-for-age of 1235 hospital-admitted children aged between one month and 14 years was assessed. Sixty per cent (764) of child admissions in all age groups had weights less than 80% of the Harvard reference weight-for-age value; 27% (339) had weights less than 60% of the Harvard reference weight-for-age value. Of children who were diagnosed to suffer from protein-energy malnutrition on admission, marasmus was diagnosed most frequently, followed by marasmic-kwashiorkor and kwashiorkor. Seventy-five per cent of child admissions who died in hospital had weights less than 80% of the reference; the lower the child's admission weight-for-age, the higher the likelihood of death. A significantly higher proportion (P less than 0.01) of female admissions weighed less than 60% of reference weight-for-age compared with male admissions. Girls diagnosed as suffering from marasmus had a higher death rate than boys with a similar diagnosis. Children from poor families or large families were more likely to have a low weight-for-age than children from wealthy or small families.