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International Journal of Recent Trends in Science and Technology, ISSN 2277-2812 E-ISSN: 2249-8109

Volume 9, Issue 3, January 2014 pp 311-314

Research Article

Epidemiology of Malnutrition among under Five Children in Rural Area in Karnataka, India

Mangala S.¹, Subrahmanyam G.²

¹Professor, ²Professor and HOD, Department of Community Medicine

Academic Editor : Dr. Aher K.R.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 157 children under five years in the field practice area of Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre. Mothers of the children were interviewed with a pretested questionnaire followed by an anthropometric and a clinical examination of the children. The variables studied were age, sex, religion, parental education, type of family, family composition, socio-economic status, medical illness in the past one month, birth order, gestational age at birth, birth weight, breast feeding, immunization status, dietary intake, housing, environment, iron and vitamin A deficiency. Clinical examination and anthropometric measurements were conducted on all the children. It was found that 42.0 % of these children were malnourished; of these 63.63% had Grade 1 malnutrition, 30.30% had Grade II malnutrition, 4.5% had Grade III malnutrition, 1.5% had Grade IV malnutrition based on Indian Academy of Pediatrics classification. Results showed that socio-economic status, birth weight, housing, mid arm circumference and deficient protein intake were significantly associated with Protein Energy Malnutrition (P<0.05). Thus this study reveals that the above parameters need to be rectified to improve the nutritional status of preschool children in the rural area.