Abstract
Correction: On 8th September 2014, the title was changed from 'Anglong district' to 'Karbi Anglong district'. The name of the district was corrected in this way throughout the paper. Background: Undernutrition is a major public health problem affecting children and adolescents of developing countries such as India and causes high mortality and morbidity. Objective: To assess prevalence of undernutrition among tribal adolescents of Karbi Anglong district of Assam, Northeast India Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 864 (448 boys) tribal Karbi adolescents aged 10-17 years of Karbi Anglong district of Assam, Northeast India. Height and weight were recorded and the body mass index calculated. WHO recommended indices of stunting (height-for-age, rd percentile of National Centre of Health Statistics) and thinness (BMI-for-age, th percentile, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) were used to assess the prevalence of undernutrition. Results: Overall mean height, weight and BMI were found to be significantly higher among boys than girls (p 2 to 20.1 kg/m 2 in boys and 15.1 kg/m 2 to 18.7 kg/m 2 in girls 10-17 years old. Overall prevalence of stunting (51.2%) was found markedly higher than thinness (13.4%). Sex-specific overall stunting was similar among girls (50.2%) and boys (50.1%). Overall prevalence of thinness was slightly higher among girls (14.9%) than boys (12.05%) (p> 0.05). Conclusion: Stunting was present in 51.2% and thinness in 13.4% among Karbi adolescents of Karbi Anglong district of Assam, Northeast India. (Keywords: Stunting; thinness; BMI; adolescents; anthropometry) Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health , 2014; 43 (3): 154-157 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljch.v43i3.7375
Highlights
Prevalence of undernutrition continues to be the 1Assistant Professor, 2Ex-Postgraduate Student, Department of Anthropology, Assam University: Diphu Campus, Karbi Anglong, Assam, IndiaA cross-sectional study was carried out among 864 tribal adolescents aged 10-17 years of Karbi Anglong district of Assam, Northeast India
Nutritional studies have highlighted that prevalence of chronic energy deficiency (CED) is still a major public health problem in Indian populations[1,3,4,5]
Growth and nutritional status of adolescents are markedly unsatisfactory among Indian populations[2,3,4,5,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]
Summary
A cross-sectional study was carried out among 864 tribal adolescents aged 10-17 years of Karbi Anglong district of Assam, Northeast India. Of 960 subjects identified in the 10-17 year age group, 96 (56 boys; 40 girls) were excluded due to inappropriate age, absence or unwillingness to participate in study. A structured schedule was utilized to obtain the necessary data on age, sex, family income, education, occupation, family size and physical exercise. Subjects of present study belong to the agricultural and manual and/or skilled labour group family background. Based on above-mentioned scale, subjects belonged to the lower to middle socioeconomic group. Present investigation was done by conducting household surveys and school visits. Permission was obtained from the schools and the village level authorities prior to conducting the investigation. Undernutrition is a major public health problem affecting children and adolescents of developing countries such as India and causes high mortality and morbidity
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