Assessment of Nutritional Status of Underfive Children in a Low Socio-Economic Urban Community of Guntur city in AP State

Authors

  • Prasada Rao Udaragudi1 , Samson Sanjeeva Rao Nallapu2 , TSR Sai

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37506/ijphrd.v11i11.11342

Keywords:

Malnutrition, stunting, wasting, underweight, anthropometric failure, CIAF

Abstract

Introduction: Under nutrition profoundly affects children’s survival, growth and development. Various
classifications of malnutrition in children use different cut off points for malnutrition making it difficult
to compare data. The Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) is an alternative classification
system which incorporates stunting, wasting and underweight. Objective: To identify malnutrition in
underfive children in a low socio-economic urban area of Guntur city. Methods: This cross-sectional study
was carried out during 2017 and 2018 at Israilpet in Guntur city of Andhra Pradesh. Weights and heights
were measured for 740 underfive children (367 boys and 373 girls) according to WHO guidelines. The data
collected was entered into MS Office Excel and analysed data is presented in the form of tables. Important
findings are subjected to statistical tests at 5% Level of Significance. Results: Using WHO standards, 4.1%
boys and 1.9 % girls are lesser than 3 standard deviations from the median and therefore can be considered
severely malnourished. 10.4 % boys and 8.8% girls were moderately malnourished. Only 1 girl was more
than +3 SDs and is obese. The infant age group has the highest prevalence of malnutrition (33.7%). Stunting
is overall 10.0 % while wasting is 39.6%. Anthropometric failure taking into consideration all three aspects
of malnutrition i.e. wasting, stunting and underweight is 53.9% (boys 54.2% and girls 53.7%) Discussion:
The response to child under nutrition in India has been limited to food supplementation not taking into
consideration the multidimensional nature of malnutrition. Stunting is a significant form of under-nutrition
but goes largely unrecognized. CIAF could recognize more undernourished children than the z score-based
classification. Conclusion: Using low weight-for-age as the only criterion may underestimate the true
prevalence of under nutrition. It is also seen that under nutrition in the first year of life is significantly higher
both in boys and girls.

Author Biography

  • Prasada Rao Udaragudi1 , Samson Sanjeeva Rao Nallapu2 , TSR Sai

    Assistant Professor, 2Professor, 3Professor & Head of Dept.Dept. of Community Medicine, NRI Medical College

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Published

2020-10-21

How to Cite

Assessment of Nutritional Status of Underfive Children in a Low Socio-Economic Urban Community of Guntur city in AP State. (2020). Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, 11(11), 20-26. https://doi.org/10.37506/ijphrd.v11i11.11342