During the rehabilitation phase of nutritional recovery, a severely malnourished child's weight increases from 6.0 kg to 8.4 kg over 30 days. What is his rate of catch-up growth in g/kg/day, and does it meet the criterion for satisfactory catch-up growth?

• A 4.0 g/kg/day, unsatisfactory
• B 8.0 g/kg/day, unsatisfactory
• C 13.3 g/kg/day, satisfactory ✓
• D 16.0 g/kg/day, satisfactory

Explanation

Weight gain in g/kg/day equals total grams gained divided by the product of initial weight in kilograms and number of days. Here 2400 g divided by (6.0 x 30) gives 13.3 g/kg/day. Satisfactory catch-up growth during rehabilitation is defined as more than 10 g/kg/day; below this, one must look for inadequate intake, unrecognized infection, or psychosocial deprivation. Option B uses current weight instead of admission weight in the denominator, a common calculation error.

Reference: WHO Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children, 2nd ed.

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