["Doctor, the child does not eat": a motive for consultation].
OBJECTIVE
To find the incidence of "Doctor, the child's not eating" as a motive for requesting a consultation and to check whether there is an accompanying pathology and/or poor nutritional habits.


METHODS
Descriptive, crossover study.


METHODS
Rural Health Centre, Santa Amalia (Badajoz).


METHODS
Family members with 148 children, attending on their own initiative and seeking care for "he/she's not eating" between August and October 1996.


RESULTS
148 of 1,244 consultations were for "he/she not eating" (incidence 11.89%). 52.02% of them were male. The age group which attended most was from 1 to 4 years old (48.64%), followed by 36 cases between 7 and 12 months (24.32%). We observed an accompanying pathology in 71 (41.98%), most frequently catarrh of the upper passages and urinary tract infection.


CONCLUSIONS
The fact that one of every 12 consultations was because a child had lost his/her appetite had two main interpretations: it is a common occurrence which worries parents quite a lot; and many parents lack information about feeding their children, as to quantity and the ways of administering the food.
Fernández Núñez
J M
JM
Centro de Salud de Santa Amalia, Hospital del INSALUD de Mérida.
Sendín González
C
C
Paulino Herrera
A
A
Pérez Gómez
P
P
Lozano Izquierdo
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors
"Doctor, el niño no me come", como demanda de consulta.