Change in nutritional status over the course of antituberculosis treatment in current and past beneficiaries of the program PANTBC

Objectives. Analyze the nutritional changes among current and old beneficiaries of the Food and Nutrition Program for Outpatients with Tuberculosis and their Family (PANTBC, Spanish acronym). Materials and methods. A secondary analysis was conducted based on the anthropometric measurements with the body mass index (BMI) in current and old beneficiaries of the PANTBC program. The measurements were taken at the baseline, second and fifth or sixth month, and the distribution of the nutritional status was analyzed at baseline as compared to the endpoint (McNemar-Bowker test). Results. Information about 409 current beneficiaries and 110 old beneficiaries were included. A progressive decline in low weight as well as an increase in overweight were observed in both current and old beneficiaries (IMC<18.5). The results of the third measurement showed that 57.7% of current beneficiaries who started with low weight ended up with normal weight, while 20.7% of those who started with normal weight ended up with overweight. The analysis of the nutritional status at baseline compared to the endpoint showed changes in distribution (p<0.05). Conclusions. Across the PANTBC program, there is a variation of beneficiaries' nutritional status, showing a tendency to go from a lower level to a higher level of BMI.