To build a life table and determine the factors related to the time of treatment of undernourished children at a nutrition rehabilitation centre (CREN), São Paulo, Brazil.

Nutritional status was assessed from weight-for-age, height-for-age and BMI-for-age Z-scores, while neuropsychomotor development was classified according to the milestones of childhood development. Life tables, Kaplan–Meier survival curves and Cox multiple regression models were employed in data analysis.

CREN (Centre of Nutritional Recovery and Education), São Paulo, Brazil.

Undernourished children (n 228) from the southern slums of São Paulo who had received treatment at CREN under a day-hospital regime between the years 1994 and 2009.

The Kaplan–Meier curves of survival analysis showed statistically significant differences in the periods of treatment at CREN between children presenting different degrees of neuropsychomotor development (log-rank = 6·621; P = 0·037). Estimates based on the multivariate Cox model revealed that children aged ≥24 months at the time of admission exhibited a lower probability of nutritional rehabilitation (hazard ratio (HR) = 0·49; P = 0·046) at the end of the period compared with infants aged up 12 months. Children presenting slow development were better rehabilitated in comparison with those exhibiting adequate evolution (HR = 4·48; P = 0·023). No significant effects of sex, degree of undernutrition or birth weight on the probability of nutritional rehabilitation were found.

Age and neuropsychomotor developmental status at the time of admission to CREN are critical factors in determining the duration of treatment.