Farhana Ahmad, Arshad Rafique, Rizwan Asad Khan, Sanaullah Khan, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Fakhar-ul Zaman.
Appraisal of Frequency of Malnutrition Indices and Relationship with Demographic Features among School Children.
J Sharif Med Dent Coll Jan ;6(2):62-7.

Objective: To assess the frequency of malnutrition indices in the study population and to determine the relationship between different demographic features and nutritional status. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a school located in a rural area of Lahore from November 15, 2019, till April 30, 2020. A self-designed proforma registered the sample population. A total of 564 children, from a single school, were included. Centre for Disease Control (CDC) growth charts were used to record the centiles and Z-scores of the children. Cole classification was used to assess grading thinness/wasting. Hospital ethical committee approval was obtained. Informed consent was taken from parents of children before collecting data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23 was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 564 children were enrolled in the study. Among them, 49.6% were females, and 50.4% males. Moderate stunting was observed in 65(11.5%), and severe stunting in 13(2.3%). Body mass index (BMI) of less than 5 percentile was seen in 211(37.4%) cases. World Health Organization (WHO) weight for height Z-score, applicable to 191 students, placed 33(17.3%) as moderately undernourished and 17(8.9%) as severely undernourished. Normal BMI was observed in 342(60.64%) students, while overweight and obese were 8(1.42%) and 3(0.53%), respectively. The children were mildly 122(34%), moderately 87(15.4%), and severely 43(7.6%) underweight. Cole classification graded mild, moderate, and severe thinness in 165(29.3%), 102(18.1%), and 135(6.2%) children respectively. When we compared various malnutrition indices with population characteristics, only a significant association was found between the number of siblings and the degree of stunting (p-value=0.04). Conclusion: Our study showed a significant number of undernourished children. As malnutrition has a substantial ill-effect on child health, there is a need to allocate more funds and resources to school going children to prevent malnutrition. Keywords: Malnutrition. Stunting. Underweight. Child health.

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