Publication:

Nutritional status and its corelates in under five slum children of Kanpur Nagar, India

Background In Kanpur, overall there were an estimated 43.6% stunted, 24.1% wasted and 41.8% underweight under-five children. There is a critical window of opportunity to prevent undernutrition by taking care of the nutrition of children in the first two years of life. With this background the present study was undertaken with the aim to assess the nutritional status in under five children in the slum area of Kanpur Nagar.

Methods The present study was conducted in 30 slums of Kanpur Nagar selected through 30 cluster sampling technique. The sample size was calculated as 390. From each cluster, approximate 13 study subjects aged 0-60 months were studied. Mothers of study subjects were interviewed to illicit the requisite information, using a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were taken using standard technique for each study subject. Data collected was analyzed using statistical tool.

Results Based on WHO classification, the prevalence of stunting and severe stunting was observed to be 31.28% and 13.59%. 14.62% study subjects were wasted while 6.15% subjects had severe wasting. 40.51% had mild-moderate malnutrition and 7.95% had severe malnutrition as per the criteria of mid upper arm circumference. Malnutrition was significantly associated with the age of the study subjects (p <0.05). The prevalence of malnutrition decreased significantly with higher maternal education and among those whose mother’s were housewives (p <0.05). Lower birth order and middle socio-economic class was associated with decreased prevalence of malnutrition (p <0.05).

Conclusions The nutritional status of children is dependent on maternal education and occupation and socioeconomic status. Nutrition education can have a significant effect in its reduction.