Table 1

Children receiving prescribed medications during outpatient SAM treatment, by time period during follow-up (N=2399)

All follow-up
(admission–week 8)
At admissionWeeks 1–2Weeks 3–8P value*
Children receiving ≥1 prescription, no (%)
Any medication1790 (74.6)1293 (53.9)786 (32.8)758 (31.6)<0.01
Antibiotic720 (30.0)184 (7.7)272 (11.3)356 (14.8)<0.01
Injectable3 (0.1)0 (0.0)1 (0.0)2 (0.1)0.37
Oral284 (11.8)2 (0.1)118 (4.9)185 (7.7)<0.01
 Amoxicillin247 (10.3)0 (0.0)99 (4.1)162 (6.8)<0.01
Local509 (21.2)182 (7.6)164 (6.8)200 (8.3)0.15
Anti-inflammatory/analgesic15 (0.6)2 (0.1)6 (0.3)8 (0.3)0.17
Antihistamine5 (0.2)1 (0.0)2 (0.1)2 (0.1)0.82
Antimalarial1358 (56.6)1135 (47.3)122 (5.1)291 (12.1)<0.01
Antipyretic/analgesic1058 (44.1)710 (29.6)212 (8.8)343 (14.3)<0.01
Injectable corticosteroid5 (0.2)0 (0.0)2 (0.1)4 (0.2)0.14
Iron folic acid421 (17.5)13 (0.5)344 (14.3)185 (7.7)<0.01
Local antifungal, antiparasitic, antiseptic181 (7.5)51 (2.1)67 (2.8)88 (3.7)<0.01
Oral antifungal84 (3.5)19 (0.8)43 (1.8)31 (1.3)<0.01
Oral antiparasitic, antiprotozoan4 (0.2)0 (0.0)3 (0.1)1 (0.0)0.17
Oral rehydration solution9 (0.4)2 (0.1)5 (0.2)2 (0.1)0.37
Other medications4 (0.2)0 (0.0)2 (0.1)2 (0.1)0.37
Prescribed medications received, mean (SD)2.01 (1.90)0.88 (0.93)0.47 (0.79)0.66 (1.22)<0.01
Prescribed medications per visit, mean (SD)1.12 (0.80)0.88 (0.94)0.42 (0.67)0.46 (0.76)<0.01
  • *P values derived from Χ2 test (categorical outcomes) and one-way ANOVA (continuous outcomes).

  • ANOVA, analysis of variance; SAM, severe acute malnutrition.