Anthropometric characteristics and nutritional status of rural school children

Abstract

Undernutrition among children is a major public health problem in rural areas of developing countries like India. The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of underweight, stunting and thinness among rural school children of Onda, Bankura District, India. A total of 454 (201 boys and 253 girls) Bengalee Hindu children aged 6-14 years were included in this cross-sectional study. Height and weight were measured and the body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Three indicators of nutritional status namely underweight, stunting and thinness, were used based on the National Centre of Heath Statistics (NCHS) < 2 Z score values. Mean Z scores for weight-for-age (WHZ), heightfor-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age (BMIZ) were less than those of NCHS in both boys as well as girls. Public health problem of undernutrition was classified according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The overall age and sex combined prevalence of underweight, stunting and thinness were 16.9%, 17.2% and 23.1%, respectively. Both sexes had similar rates of stunting (boys = 14.4%; girls = 19.4%). However, there were significant (p < 0.05) sex differences in the frequency of underweight (chi-square = 3.97) and thinness (chi-square = 4.54). Significantly more boys were underweight (boys = 20.9%, girls = 13.8%) and thin (boys = 27.8%, girls = 19.4%). Based on the WHO classification of severity of malnutrition among children, the overall age and sex combined rates of underweight, stunting and thinness were medium (10-19%), low (< 20%) and very high (3 15%), respectively. While both boys (14.4%) and girls (19.4%) had low rates of stunting (< 20%), the rates for thinness among both sexes (boys = 27.8%, girls = 19.4%) were very high. The rates of underweight were high (20-29%) and medium (10-19%), among boys (20.9%) and girls (13.8%), respectively. In conclusion this study provided evidence that these children were under acute and chronic nutritional stress indicating the requirement of immediate appropriate public health nutritional intervention programmes.