TABLE 3.

Summary of studies by type of nutritional intervention and primary and secondary outcomes¹

		Primary outcomes			Secondary outcomes
Study, year (ref), quality	Study design, population, sample size (n), age range	Stunting (height-for-age)	Wasting (weight-for-height or MAM/SAM)	Underweight (weight-for-age)	Mortality	Anemia	Diarrhea (2 wk before)
TFCs or SFCs
Dzumhur et al., 1995 (21), very low	Cross-sectional (TFC), post–Bosnian War, n = 1283 children, aged 1–14 y	NM	NM	369 (58.3%) of those underweight (without chronic disease) gained 0.5 kg in weight, placing them >10th percentile (recovered and left program)	NM	NM	NM
Nielsen et al., 2004 (22), low	Prospective cohort (SFC), Guinea Bissau post–civil war, n = 247 children, aged 6–59 mo	Prevalence reduced in intervention group but insignificant to comparison group (data not shown)	Median time to recovery: 48 d (95% CI: 34, 72 d)	Prevalence reduced in intervention group but nonsignificant compared with the control group (data not shown)	Reduced mortality of children <5 y of age	NM	NM
Rossi et al., 2008 (23), very low	Prospective cohort (TFC/SFC), Burundian refugees, n = 127,420 children, aged 6–59 mo	NM	Small reduction in MAM (8–7%) but increase in SAM (0.5–1.1%) from 2000 to 2004	NM	Reduction from 6 deaths · 10,000 children−1 · d−1 to 3.1–4.9 deaths · 10,000 children−1 · d−1 (<5 y)	NM	NM
Tappis et al., 2012 (24), very low	Retrospective cohort (TFC/SFC); Somali, Sudanese, Ethiopian refugees; n = 42,088 children, aged <5 y	NM	77.1% recovery from TFCs in 23–43 d, 84.6% recovery from SFCs in 11–20 wk	NM	Mortality rates <1%	NM	NM
Taylor, 1983 (25), very low	Cross-sectional (TFC/SFC), Somali refugees, n = 2138 children, aged <5 y	NM	Saba: 46% exceeded discharge level from SFC for weight-for-height	NM.	NM	NM	NM
			Daray: 60% exceeded discharge level from SFC for weight-for-height; prevalence of malnutrition still high
Vautier et al., 1999 (26), low	Cross-sectional (TFC/SFC); Burundi, Rwandan, Liberian refugees; n = 53,140 children, aged <18 y	NM	Recovered from malnutrition: 76.9%; average time to recovery: 56.6 d	NM	NM	NM	NM
MNPs
Bilukha et al., 2011 (27), low	Cross-sectional, Bhutanese refugees, n = 2136 children, aged 6–59 mo	After 7 mo, decrease from 39.2% (34.9–43.7%) to 32.5% (28.4–36.8%)2; after 26 mo, decrease in prevalence of stunting to 23.4% (20.0–27.1%)2	After 7 mo, increase in prevalence of wasting from 4.2% (2.8–6.4%) to 9.2% (7.0–12.1%)2	After 7 mo, increase in prevalence from 20.9% (17.5–24.8%) to 28.1% (24.1–32.3%)2	NM	After 1 y, no change in overall prevalence from baseline of 43.3% (36.3–51.1%) to 43.6% (39.3–48.1%); moderate anemia significantly decreased from 18.9% (15.6–22.7%) to 14.4% (11.7–17.6%) after 3 y	After 1 y, incidence of diarrhea decreased from 30% to 17%2
Rah et al., 2012 (28), low	Cross-sectional; Nepal, Kenya, Bangladesh refugees; n = 19,000 children; aged 6–59 mo	Nepal: decrease from 39% to 23%2	NM	NM	NM	Nepal: prevalence of moderate anemia decreased (from 19% to 14%)	Nepal: reduction in diarrhea (from 30% to 18%)2
		Kenya: decrease in stunting from 12% to 7%2				Kenya: no change in anemia prevalence in children	Bangladesh: no reduction (20.1% to 19.2%)
		Bangladesh: values not reported				Bangladesh: anemia prevalence decreased (from 64% to 48%)	Kenya: NM
General food assistance programs
Abdeen et al., 2007 (29), low	Cross-sectional, Palestinian refugees, n = 3089 children, aged 6–59 mo	Study population 3.2 percentage points higher than national prevalence, 4.4 percentage points lower than 5 y before intervention	Study population 3.0 percentage points higher than national prevalence	Study population 5.1 percentage points higher than national prevalence	NM	NM	NM
Nutrition therapy via outpatient day care centers
Colombatti et al., 2008 (31), very low	Prospective cohort, Guinea Bissau post–civil war, n = 2642 children, aged 1–17 mo	Prevalence of stunting after 19-d intervention: 15%	Prevalence of wasting after 19-d intervention: 21.5%	Prevalence of underweight after 19-d intervention: 23%; overall weight gain from 1% to 25% of initial body weight	No nutrition-related deaths within 1 y (1 death from HIV)	NM	NM
Nutrient-dense fortified spread
Lopriore et al., 2004 (30), high	Randomized controlled trial, Saharawi refugees, n = 374 children, aged 3–6 y	Linear growth was 30% faster in intervention group than in control group over entire trial2	Prevalence reduced in intervention group but nonsignificant compared with the control group (data not shown)	Prevalence reduced in intervention group but nonsignificant compared with the control group (data not shown)	NM	Two-fold increase in hemoglobin concentration in intervention group at 6 mo; anemia was reduced by 90% compared with control	NM

¹MAM, moderate acute malnutrition; MNP, micronutrient powder distribution programs; NM, outcome was not measured in the study or not enough information to report; ref, reference; SAM, severe acute malnutrition; SFC, supplementary feeding center; TFC, therapeutic feeding center.

²Results were significant (P < 0.05).