International Journal of Preclinical and Clinical Research

Abstract

Children constitute a large and vulnerable group, as 50% of all deaths occur during the first 5 years of life. Children below five years of age are at-risk population due to their susceptibility to malnutrition. The nutritional status of pre-school children is a sensitive indicator, ignoring which puts the long term health and development of population at risk. The level of childhood malnutrition is exceptionally high in India (45-48%). Objective of this study was to assess the status of nutritional status of under 5 children and to identify the risk factors associated with it. Methodology of the prospective cross-sectional study included 250 under-five children attending paediatric outpatient department of two tertiary care hospitals in Chitradurga from June to November, 2020. Socio demographic measures were obtained from structured questionnaire and followed by anthropometric measurements. Grading was done as per Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) classification. The prevalence of underweight among under five children was 55.6%. Around 7% of children were severely malnourished. Males (52.5%) were more malnourished than females (47.5%). The sociodemographic determinants birth weight and duration of exclusive breastfeeding had statistically significant association with malnutrition. The burden of underweight was very high and some important risk factors for underweight were determinants birth weight and duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Therefore, any interventions to prevent and solve the problem of under nutrition should focus on maternal health.