Dietary practices and nutrition status of adult pulmonary tuberculosis patients attending Nyeri County Referral Hospital, Kenya

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Date
2017-11
Authors
Mwendia, Agnes Wangari
Chege, Peter
Njogu, Eunice
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Scholars Middle East Publishers
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the dietary practices and nutrition status of adult pulmonary TB patients attending Nyeri County Referral Hospital, Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional analytical design. A sample of 135 participants was calculated using the modified Fisher Formula. The study targeted adult pulmonary TB patients attending TB Clinic. A structured questionnaire and a focus group discussion guide were used to collect data. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. About 48.1% of the participants were underweight while 45.9% were normal and 3.7% were overweight. Chi-square tests showed significant relationships between gender (χ2 = 10.917, p=0.012), age (χ2 = 12.261, p=0.046) and income (χ2 15.584, = p=0.036) were significant to nutrition status among the socio-demographic characteristics. Pearson correlation analysis showed a weak relationship (r=0.173, p=0.045) between number of meals per day and nutrition status of TB patients. The study concluded that adult pulmonary TB patients attending Nyeri county referral hospital had poor dietary practices, which led to poor nutrition status. The study recommended that food assistance programs should be strengthened by the government in conjunction with non-governmental organizations to help in mitigating increased vulnerability to food insecurity among TB-affected households. Keywords: Dietary Practices, Extra Pulmonary T.B, Nutrition Status, TB Patient and Pulmonary T.B
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Dietary Practices, Extra Pulmonary T.B, Nutrition Status, TB Patient, Pulmonary T.B
Citation
Scholars Bulletin (Food Science),Vol. 3, Iss.11 Nov, 2017. http://scholarsbulletin.com/