Types include:[1] PEU is fairly common worldwide in both children and adults and accounts for about 250,000 deaths annually.

[3] Note that PEU may be secondary to other conditions such as chronic renal disease[4] or cancer cachexia[5] in which protein energy wasting (PEW) may occur.

From these studies it is possible to conclude that prenatal protein nutrition is vital to the development of the fetus, especially the brain, the susceptibility to diseases in adulthood, and even gene expression.

In these conditions, the challenging nutritional management may get overlooked and underestimated, resulting in an impairment of the chances for recovery and the worsening of the situation.

However, a variety of other conditions have been observed with PEM, including sepsis, severe anaemia, bronchopneumonia, HIV, tuberculosis, scabies, chronic suppurative otitis media, rickets, and keratomalacia.

These co-morbidities, according to Agozie Ubesie and other paediatricians, tax already malnourished children and may prolong hospital stays initially for PEM and may increase the likelihood of death.