Assessment of nutritional status of under five children attending outpatient department at a tertiary care hospital in North India

Abstract

The nutrition status is always neglected issue of public health. The study was done to assess the nutritional status of children attending pediatric OPD at tertiary level hospital by anthropometric measurements and to know the health status of these children and their relation with nutritional status. The nutritional profile of children of age group 0-5 years attending Paediatric OPD was studied. Total 1000 under five children were equally divided into the age groups 0-12 months, 1-2 years, 2-3years, 3-4 years and 4-5 years. A total of 40.1%, 45.2%, 16.3% of children had underweight, stunted and wasting, respectively. Total malnutrition prevalence was 63.1%. As per MUAC, 48.9% children were having mild to moderate malnutrition whereas 1.8% children had severe malnutrition. Malnutrition was more prevalent in girls and in 1-5 years age group children and was found statistically significant. Reduction of malnutrition can be ensured by availability of supplementary feeds and immunization.