Publication:

Study on nutritional status among children up to five years at tertiary care hospital, HIMS, Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh

Background Undernutrition makes children in particular much more vulnerable to disease and death; around 45% of deaths among children up to 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition and these mostly occur in low and middle-income countries. Malnutrition increases health care costs, reduces productivity, and slows economic growth, which can perpetuate a cycle of poverty and ill-health. Objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of underweight (weight-for-age), sociodemographic profile and to determination of differences exist by gender.

Methods The present study was hospital based descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from June 2019 to December 2019. The sample size calculated was 410, and accounting for 10% nonresponsive, the sample size calculated was 451. The data obtained were compiled and entered in MS-excel 2010 and analysed by using institutional SPSS (22.0).

Results Male children 230 (51.0%) was observed higher proportion as compared to female children 221 (49.0%) and same preponderance difference was found among underweight children. Literate fathers belong to 332 (73.6%) children and illiterate fathers belong to 96 (53.0%) underweight children. literate mother belongs to highly significant 283 (62.8%) children and illiterate mothers belong to highly significant 105 (58.0%) underweight children. Majority of father occupation belongs to other type job 294 (65.2) whereas labour occupation mostly belongs to underweight children 109 (60.2%) highly significant and most of the housewives belong to normal children 361 (80.1%) and underweight children 119 (65.8%) highly significant.

Conclusions Health education on nutrition to parents would be beneficiary for underweight children.