Rizwana Riaz, Abida Sultana, Sajid Hameed, Iffat Tehseen, Syed Arshad Sabir.
Nutritional status of school going children.
J Rawal Med Coll Jan ;14(1):51-4.

Background: To compare the nutritional status of school children studying in public and private schools. Methods: Cross sectional comparative study; Carried out among public and private school children. Multistage sampling was done to select the schools randomly and students systematically in order to avoid bias in the selection of study population. Two third schools from public sector and 1/3 from private sector were included in the study as registered public schools were more than private schools. Out of 7 public and 3 private schools, 230 and 114 students respectively were enrolled in the study for measuring their height and weight.. Results: Of the total 344 respondents, 24.1% and 10.8% students were found to be under weight and stunted respectively. Taking into consideration weight-for-age, stature-for-age and body mass index (BMI)-for-age of the study subjects, 162 students (47.1%) were found to be well nourished with 46.9% and 47.4% public and private school children respectively where as 52.9% of the study population were found to have compromised nutritional status with reference to one or more of the parameters. Stunted growth was found in 12.8% males and 8.3% females students .All the three parameters were below normal among 19 study subjects with 94.7% public and 5.3% private school children. Conclusion:. More than half of the study population reflected compromised nutritional status with reference to one or more parameters.

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