Epidemiology of undernutrition

The present study was undertaken to find out the magnitude of the problem of under nutrition among the children under 5 years of age and also to identify the important factors influencing the nutritional status of the children. 30 cluster sampling technique had been applied in the study. A total of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indian journal of pediatrics 2001-11, Vol.68 (11), p.1025-1030
Main Authors: SANDIP KUMAR RAY, HALDAR, Anima, BISWAS, Biswajit, MISRA, Raghunath, KUMAR, Satish
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Distribution
Biological and medical sciences
Child Nutrition Disorders - diagnosis
Child Nutrition Disorders - epidemiology
Child, Preschool
Cluster Analysis
Female
Humans
Incidence
India - epidemiology
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Medical sciences
Metabolic diseases
Nutrition Surveys
Nutritional Status
Other nutritional diseases (malnutrition, nutritional and vitamin deficiencies...)
Risk Assessment
Risk Factors
Sampling Studies
Severity of Illness Index
Sex Distribution
Tropical medicine
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Summary:The present study was undertaken to find out the magnitude of the problem of under nutrition among the children under 5 years of age and also to identify the important factors influencing the nutritional status of the children. 30 cluster sampling technique had been applied in the study. A total of 600 children below five years of age were covered. Twenty under five children from each cluster were chosen for the study which was carried out during January to February '97. As per IAP criteria a total of 60.29% children were undernourished and 3.92% were severely undernourished. According to NCHS standard 46.57% & 6.86% children had weight below-2SD and -3SD respectively. A statistically significant relationship was found between the different age groups and nutritional status of under 5 children. Severe degree of malnutrition had highest prevalence under two years of age. The influence of variables like age, sex, religion, literacy status of parents and morbidity of the children were significantly associated with malnutrition. Practice of exclusive breast feeding, introduction of timely complementary feeding, education for maintaining personal hygiene, proper implementation of UIP immunization, periodic deworming, standard case management of diarrhoea and ARI as well as continuation of feeding during illness may reduce malnutrition of under-five children.
ISSN:0019-5456
0973-7693
DOI:10.1007/BF02722348