Abstract
Background and Objectives:Nutritional status is considered a significant and positive health indicator. It determines anthropometric measurements of preschool children, the height of children at the time of school entry and prevalence of low birth weight. The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of nutritional status and socio-demographic factors influencing under nutrition among school children of rural Islamabad.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted among school children of the age (4-16 years) from January 2017 to September 2019. The Sample size was 1710. Schools were selected through convenient sampling technique. Frequency and percentages were calculated and inferential statistics were computed to analyze the association of health status with categorical variables by using chi-square by keeping the level of significance <0.05 through SPSS version 20.Results:The mean age of the sample was 9.38 ± 4.14 with the maximum number of children (49.1%) in the age bracket of 5-9. Out of 1710 children, 54.4% had normal weight for age, 25.3% were underweight, 7.5% overweight and 12.8% were found to be obese. Stunting was found to be 26%. Prevalence of being underweight was higher than overweight /obesity particularly in younger and higher age groups as indicated by p-value of 0.000. Comparing with females, male students had significantly higher frequency of being underweight and stunted as reflected by p-value of 0.004 and 0.000 respectively. Univariate analysis also showed a strong association between age and nutritional status as mean weight increased from 39.22 ±5.21 to 63.50± 4.66 and height from 35.67±5.76 to 113.73± 29.22 with advancing age.Conclusions:Undernutrition remains an ongoing health problem in school going children of rural Islamabad; particularly in male students of younger age groups. School health programs and nutritional interventions need to be strengthened particularly in rural areas of Islamabad.
Highlights
Malnutrition is the biggest threat for the global burden of disease.[1]
Our objective of the study was to determine the frequency of nutritional status and socio-demographic factors influencing under nutrition among school children of rural Islamabad
While relating the nutritional status with age, malnutrition was observed in all age groups
Summary
Malnutrition is the biggest threat for the global burden of disease.[1]. Nutritional status is a main key for determining quality of life mainly in children. Nutritional status is considered a significant and positive health indicator. It determines anthropometric measurements of preschool children, the height of children at the time of school entry and prevalence of low birth weight. The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of nutritional status and socio-demographic factors influencing under nutrition among school children of rural Islamabad. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among school children of the age (4-16 years) from January 2017 to September 2019. Prevalence of being underweight was higher than overweight /obesity in younger and higher age groups as indicated by p-value of 0.000. Conclusions: Undernutrition remains an ongoing health problem in school going children of rural Islamabad; in male students of younger age groups. School health programs and nutritional interventions need to be strengthened in rural areas of Islamabad
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
