Anjum Shahid, Afroze Ramzan, Ashfaque Memon.
Anthropometric assessment of nutritional status and socio-demographic characteristics in children up to 2 years of age.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;49(1):10-3.

Background: Malnutrition is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in children. It is important to realize that normal length and weight being attained at 1 year of age, would predict the nutritional status at 3 years of age. Objectives: To asses the nutritional status and the associated socio-demographic characteristics in supposedly healthy children of up to 2 years of age and highlight the importance of anthropometric measurements in routine child health care. Setting and study design: A cross- sectional study using purposive sampling technique was conducted on children attending well baby clinic of National Institute of Child Health, Karachi during the year 2003-2005. Subjects and Methods: Anthropometric measurements i.e. height and weight, were measured and a standard questionnaire was used to interview the mothers regarding socio-demographic back ground information after a verbal informed consent and ensuring confidentiality. Height for age, weight for age and weight for height of the children were compared with the National Centre of Health Statistics (NCHS) reference population of the United States, and Z-score < - 2 SD were considered as stunted, under weight and wasted respectively. Data was analyzed using SPSS software package. Results: We observed stunting in 22%, wasting in15% and under weight in 31.6% children. Majority of children with low weight were between 19 – 24 months of age. Regarding socio-economic status of the households, 53.8% had family income less than Rs6000 /month and almost 50% had a family size of 6-10 persons. Parents’ education to the level of illiteracy (father, 27% and mother, 40%) and incomplete immunization (20%) were other associated factors for stunting, wasting and under weight. Conclusions: About 32% of children up to 2 years of age in the selected population were under weight, followed by stunning (22%).

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