In this paper,
we focus on describing the association between malnutrition and how this
relationship impacts susceptibility to respiratory infection; further also
discuss the elevated mortality from infectious disease observed in malnourished
children. We have reviewed the published literature to identify studies that
addressed the relationship between malnutrition and mortality from respiratory
infections.
MEDLINE (National livery of medicine, Bethesdam, MD)
was searched for original articles using the PUBMED query program. Also we used
databases such as EMBASE and scopus. These databases were searched from 1950 up
to 2010 for literature published either in English, Spanish or in a
foreign-language publication with an English abstract.
Combination of the following groups of keywords were used;
malnourished children, malnutrition, protein and energy malnutrition,
respiratory infections, pneumonia and immune response. Then a separate search
was conducted to identify publications related to the immune response versus
the main etiologic agents of respiratory infection children with malnutrition.
In each section of this review, respiratory infections are
presented.
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