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Background: Acute malnutrition in children <5 years of age has a direct relationship with medical complications and mortality. We aimed to describe the etiologic factors in children with moderate and severe non-illness-related acute malnutrition who required hospitalization for treatment of malnutrition in two high-complexity hospital centers in Bogotá, Colombia., Methods: This is a multicenter case series (December 2016 to December 2020) including patients aged 1-59 months with a weight/height indicator less than -2 SD. Electronic health records were reviewed, and demographic (sex, age, city of origin, and socioeconomic status) and clinical data (gestational age at birth, edema, and nutrition status) were collected. Descriptive analysis of information was performed. An exploratory bivariate analysis by diagnostic categories of moderate and severe acute malnutrition vs days of hospitalization was also performed., Results: Forty-five patients were included, 62.2% of whom were male, with a median age of 14 months (Q1-Q3: 7-24). The main etiologic factors of malnutrition were related to problems with total food intake (33.3%), transition in consistency of feeding (31.1%), and breastfeeding technique (22.2%). Only 13.3% had problems related to food insecurity. There were no statistically significant differences between moderate (median: 7 days; Q1-Q3: 5-12) and severe (median: 8 days; Q1-Q3: 5-16) acute malnutrition when compared by days of hospitalization., Conclusions: The main etiologic factors of malnutrition in our study population were related to problems in the amount of food provided and transition in consistency of complementary feeding., (© 2024 The Author(s). Nutrition in Clinical Practice published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.)

Respiratory diseases are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in children under 5 years of age. The acute respiratory disease (ERA in Spanish) room strategy implemented in Colombia is an important tool to reduce hospitalization and mortality rates in this population., Objective: To describe the health outcomes of the implementation of the ERA room strategy in two health institutions in Bogota., Patients and Method: Multicenter descriptive study including 1785 patients admitted to the ERA rooms of two institutions in Bogota, between December 2019 and 2022. Data on sex, age, admission diagnosis, length of stay in ERA room, education provided, and post discharge follow-up were collected. The main outcomes were evaluated through hospitalization requirement, ICU requirement, and post discharge improvement., Results: 1785 patients were included during the study period. 57% were male; median age was 26.6 months (IQR: 11.8 to 40.6); length of stay in ERA room was 2.62 hours (IQR: 1.73 to 4.88); 91.65% of family members and/or caregivers received educational measures., Conclusions: This study describes the results of the implementation of the ERA room strategy; the low proportion of patients requiring hospitalization is evident. Additionally, the education provided to parents and caregivers on home management is relevant, as well as the post discharge follow-up of this cohort of patients with acute respiratory disease.

Background & Aims: Tools for screening of nutrition risk in patients with cancer are usually validated against other screening instruments. Here with the performance of Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and Nutritional Screening Tool (NUTRISCORE) to identify the risk of malnutrition was assessed. A full nutritional evaluation and diagnosis following criteria from the Global Leadership Initiative of Malnutrition (GLIM) was the reference standard for the classification of malnutrition., Methods: Diagnostic test prospective analysis of adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of cancer. MST, NUTRISCORE and nutritional evaluation and diagnosis by GLIM criteria were independently performed within 24 h of admission to a 4th tier hospital in Bogotá, Colombia., Results: From 439 patients the sensitivity and specificity of MST was 75% and 94% and of NUTRISCORE 45% and 97% respectively. The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were 0.90 for MST and 0.85 for NUTRISCORE (p = 0.003)., Conclusion: The MST showed a significantly better diagnostic performance over NUTRISCORE for detection of malnutrition risk at admission to hospital of patients with cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Merchán-Chaverra R, consultant and speaker for Boydorr nutrition. Cuellar-Fernández Y, consultant and speaker for Boydorr nutrition and Alpina. Savino Lloreda P, scientific advisor for Boydorr nutrition. Acero-Alfonso D and Medina-Parra J declare the have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Determining Leptospira spp . antibody seroprevalence in an apparently healthy population and in groups at risk plus their associated factors in the town of Villavicencio in the Meta department of Colombia, Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological model was used (subjects being selected by convenience sampling). Blood-samples were obtained by cubital puncture from (n: 503) people, consisting of 230 first semester students from different programmes at the Universidad de los Llanos and 273 people corresponding to 8 groups at risk. Information regarding risk factor was obtained from interviewing the 503 people. A commercial indirect ELISA kit (Pambio) was used for determining IgM antibodies., Results: Seroprevalence was 5,2 % in the low risk group. There was 19 % seroprevalence for groups at risk, 7 % for the group of people working in slaughterhouses, 17 % for vets and small animal clinic assistants, 17 % for students in their last year of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnia, 21 % for people milking cows on dual-purpose farms, 23 % for people working in rice-fields, 35 % for people working on pig-farms and 48 % for those working on fish-farms. Three factors were found to be associated: rural social level, having a pet dog and coming into contact with rodents in the workplace., Conclusions: A high seroprevalence for Leptospira spp was found in the groups at risk, people working on pig-farms and fish-farms being those most affected. There was a 1,86 relative risk in both groups indicated as having a greater risk of contagion amongst the population suffering occupational exposure.

A case-referent study of birth defects was nested in a prevalence survey of adverse reproductive outcomes carried out among 8867 floriculture workers in Bogotá, Colombia. A total of 535 children born to these workers and reported by their parents as malformed and 1070 children selected at random as referents were invited to a medical examination including consultation with a geneticist and a clinical teratologist and a review of the medical records. Seventy-six percent of both groups attended the examination. Of 403 children reported as malformed, a birth defect was confirmed for only 154 (38%). On the other hand, of the 817 children reported as normal, 735 (90%) were normal, but 68 had a birth defect and 14 had other conditions. A case-referent analysis was then carried out including 222 children with birth defects and 443 referents. An increased risk was found only for birthmarks, and specifically for hemangiomas, for children with parents exposed to pesticides in the floriculture industry.

A prevalence survey of adverse reproductive outcomes was carried out in a population of 8867 persons (2951 men and 5916 women) who had been working in the floriculture industry in the Bogotá area of Colombia for at least six months. These workers were exposed to 127 different types of pesticides. The prevalence rates for abortion, prematurity, stillbirths, and malformations were estimated for pregnancies occurring among the female workers and the wives of the male workers before and after they started working in floriculture, and these rates were related to various degrees of exposure. A moderate increase in the prevalence of abortion, prematurity, and congenital malformations was detected for pregnancies occurring after the start of work in floriculture.