Background
Severe acute malnutrition has two main clinical manifestations, i.e., oedematous and non-oedematous. However, factors associated with oedema are not well established.

Methods
Children 0.5-14 years of age with SAM (MUAC
Results
351 children were recruited (median age: 36 months (interquartile range 24 to 60); 43.3% females). Oedema was detected in 61.1%. The prevalence of oedema increased with age, peaked at 37–59 months (75%) and declined thereafter. Infection was more common in the younger group (33% vs. 8.9%, p?
Conclusions
The proportion of oedema in SAM peaked at three to five years of age and a considerable proportion was above 5 years. Furthermore, the prevalence of infection seemed to be lower among children with oedema. Further studies are needed to better understand the role of infection-immunity interaction.