Assessment of Nutritional Status of School–age Children in Suburban Area of West Bengal

Objective: Objective of this study was to assess the nutritional status of primary school children between the age group 6 to 9 years considering reference values proposed by Indian Association of Pediatrics (IAP) and National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Methods: It is a cross sectional school base study. Six hundred and nine female and five hundred and twenty seven male primary school children were participated. Height- for- age, BMI- for- age and weight- for- age were used to assess nutritional status on considering reference values proposed by IAP and NCHS. Health status of the study population was assessed by Rohrer index. Prevalence of malnutrition was expressed in percentage.

Results: Significant percentage of children of both gender were suffering under-nutrition like stunting (IAP: female 56.3% and male 10.1%; NCHS: female 64.9% and male 19%), thinness (IAP: female 36.4% and male 38.9%; NCHS: female 59.7% and male 61.5%) and underweight (IAP: female 37.5% and male 57.6%; NCHS: female 65.7% and male 73.6%). Over nutrition like higher body weight than standard (IAP: female 29.2% and male 18.1%; NCHS: female 15.5% and male 11.9%) and overweight and/or obesity was noted in study population. Under-nutrition was coincides with the finding of RI. More than 40% children of either gender were enjoy very low health status and more than 15% with high health status. Prevalence of malnutrition was higher in male than female children.

Conclusion: Present study highlights double burden of malnutrition among children living suburban area of Hooghly district. Thus to reduce both form of malnutrition it is essential to improve knowledge and awareness of personal hygiene and nutrition.