Assessment of nutritional status among under-five children based on the nutritional indices in rural area of Bareilly for screening undernutrition

Abstract

Background: Good nutrition is not only a determinant of development but also an outcome. Anthropometry is an accepted method for defining the nutritional status of children, which require relatively simple equipment, and can be carried out by non-technical personnel after a short period of training and standardization. However, the standard against which nutritional status of the sample population should be determined has been controversial. Objective: To assess nutritional status among under-five children based on the nutritional indices in rural area of Bareilly for screening undernutrition. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the catchment area of Rural Health and Training Center in Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital among 398 under-five children using a schedule to find the nutritional indices such as Jeffie’s ratio, Arnold index, and weight for age according to IAP (modified Gomez) classification to define nutritional status. Data were entered and analyzed in SPSS, and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves (sensitivity vs. 1  specificity) were calculated for all the abovementioned indices. Result: Using height for age, Arnold index, and Jeffie’s ratio as the nutritional indices, 63%, 51.7%, and 26.1% children were malnourished, respectively. When the sensitivity and specificity of the nutritional indices were considered, maximum sensitivity was achieved using height for age as the criteria while maximum specificity attained by the use of Arnold index. When using ROC curve, height for age index was the best assessment tool for malnutrition. The correlation between the various indices taking IAP as the gold standard was calculated; P-values were 0.004, 0.000, and 0.000, respectively (