Shahid Ahsan, Naveed Mansoori, Syed Maqsood Mohiuddin, Syed Muhammad Mubeen, Rubab Saleem, Muhammad Irfanullah.
Frequency and determinants of malnutrition in children aged between 6 to 59 months in district Tharparkar, a rural area of Sindh.
J Pak Med Assoc Jan ;67(9):1369-73.

Objective: To assess the nutritional status of children living in Tharparkar.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in four villages of Tharparkar district of Sindh, Pakistan, in 2014, and comprised children aged between 6 and 59 months. Data was collected from mothers and anthropometry of children was done using standard techniques. Nutritional status was assessed by using age- and sex-specific World Health Organisation standard charts for underweight, stunting and wasting. Data was analysed using SPSS 16. Result: Of the 304 children assessed, 117(38.5%) were stunted, 58(19.1 %) were wasted and 101(33.2 %) were underweight with no gender discrimination. Under-nutrition was particularly observed in the second year of life. Statistically significant factors associated with stunting were illiteracy of mother, family size of >5 members, pregnancy>4 times, child mortality in last 6 months, absence of breastfeeding and no history of child vaccination(p<0.05 each). Logistic regression revealed family size of <5 members, pregnancy ?4 times, breastfeeding and vaccination were protective factors for stunting (p<0.05 each). Mortality of a child in the last 6 months in the family was 3 times more likely to have a stunted child. Conclusion: Stunting was the most common type of under-nutrition with no sex discrimination.

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