The Incidence, Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics of Failure to Thrive in Children at King Abdullah Specialized Children Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Introduction Failure to thrive (FTT) in children involves insufficient weight or height gain, affecting general and hospitalized populations which leads to cognitive and behavioral changes. Causes include inadequate caloric intake and underlying diseases (organic - OFTT) or psychosocial factors (non-organic - NOFTT). Our study in King Abdullah Specialized Children Hospital (KASCH) aims to assess FTT incidence, prevalence, and clinical characteristics, and also, to distinguish between different causes. Methodology It is a retrospective cohort study, conducted at KASCH, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This study includes children under three years old with documented FTT from 2017 to 2019. Data was collected from the hospital's electronic system and it was analyzed by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corp., Version 29.0, Armonk, NY). Results Our study, including 214 FTT patients, revealed a balanced gender distribution of 109 males (50.9%), and 105 females (49.1%), with a majority of Saudi nationality 208 (97.2%). In most cases, 120 (56.1%) are in the 0-12 months age group. The prevalence of FTT was 26.75% (267 cases per 1000). Antenatal/post-natal features showed diverse delivery modes and NICU admissions. Chronic diseases like gastrointestinal diseases 62 (29.1%), cardiac 50 (23.4%), and pulmonary 50 (23.4%) conditions were prevalent. Associations were found between NICU admission and pre-term births, birth weight status, and congenital anomalies, highlighting significant clinical correlations. Conclusion Our study concluded the significant burden of FTT at KASCH. Chronic diseases were playing a major role as a cause of FTT. Thus, emphasizing the causes and knowing the importance of addressing the prevalence and incidence is effective for appropriate intervention.