Zaeem Sohail Jafar, Aniq Ahmed, Muhammad Ashraf Majrooh.
Prevalence of Malnutrition and its Association with Pica, in Children of Tehsil Lawa, District Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan.
Pak Paed J Jan ;46(3):308-13.

Objective: To estimate the frequency of pica and malnutrition in children from a rural area in Punjab. To compare the malnutrition in pica versus non-pica patients. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at Rural Health center Kot Qazi, Tehsil Lawa Punjab Pakistan within the timeframe of 5 months. i.e. January to May 2022. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study of 1014 children between ages of 2 to 14 years was conducted. Sample size was taken using online Rao-soft calculator. Growth indicating parameters for nutritional assessment in children was taken as per WHO standards. Data was analyzed and tabulated results were generated using SPSS 21 software. Results: Out of 1014 children included in the study, 597 (58.88%) were male and 417 (41.42%) were females. The overall mean age of the study population was 47.23 +- 36.17 months. Prevalence of malnutrition and pica in children under study was 34.8% and 37.2% respectively. Pica behavior was predominant in males as compared to females (55.2% vs 44.82%). Malnourishment was also prevalent in males as compared to female patients (54.39% vs 45.6%). This study showed that odds for exhibiting pica behavior was 7.9 times more in a malnourished child as compared to normally nourished child. Conclusion: Pica behavior and malnutrition is prevalent in about one third of children under 15 years age and there is strong association between pica behavior and malnutrition in these children.

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