Health Status of School Going Children: A Cross sectional study in urban area of Jhalawar District, Rajasthan

Abstract

Introduction: The school going age is a formative period, both physically as well as mentally. Poor health status in school aged children is among the causes of poor class performance and high absenteeism. Objectives: to assess the health and nutritional status of the school going children in urban area and to determine the association of health problems with age and gender. Method: A cross sectional study was carried out in government schools of urban field practice area of tertiary care institute, Jhalawar, Rajasthan. Study was carried out among 2193 students in four government schools. A pretested, semi structured questionnaire was used for collection of data on socio-demographic characters and their health profile. A detailed clinical examination was done from head to toe for every child. Weight and height were measured. Data was entered into the Microsoft Excel 10. Chi square test of significance was used for statistical analysis. Results: Most common health problem was dental caries (15.0%) followed by refractive errors (13.1%) and pallor (12.6%). Proportions of pallor and refractive error were significantly increased with increase in age of study participants. 16.8% of the students were found to be having thinness. Moderate stunting was present in 7.3% students. Conclusion: Dental caries, refractive errors and pallor were the common morbidities. A significant proportion of school children were undernourished.