Department of Community Medicine, ESIC Medical College & Hospital, NH-3, NIT, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
Department of Community Medicine, Shahid Hasan Khan Mewati College, Nalhar, Mewat, Haryana, India.
J Epidemiol Glob Health. 2019 Mar;9(1):19-22. doi: 10.2991/jegh.k.190212.001.
A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted among 202 children aged 1-5 years residing in an urban slum to study the extent of malnutrition and its association with common childhood illness(es). The participants were selected using convenient sampling (nonprobability), and the appropriate respondents were interviewed using a structured, semi-open-ended, pretested, interviewer-administered questionnaire. The prevalence of undernutrition (weight for age), stunting (height for age), and wasting (weight for height) were calculated at the cutoff level of ≤2 standard deviation (-score <-2) of the National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS) reference median values. Data were analyzed using appropriate tests of significance. The mean age of participants was 33.9 ± 13.9 months. The proportion of undernutrition, stunting, and wasting among was found to be 29.2%, 66.8%, and 12.9%, respectively. Respiratory illness (56.9%) was reportedly the most common morbidity among participants. A higher proportion of children who reportedly suffered from viral fever in past 3 months were wasted, and this association was found to be statistically significant ( = 0.003). The alarming rate of malnutrition reiterates the synergistic relationship between common infections and malnutrition. It is, therefore, imperative to emphasize and strengthen the role of nutritional interventions as outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO) Integrated Management of Childhood Illness as part of case management for infectious diseases among children aged <5 years.
一项以社区为基础的、横断面研究在 202 名年龄在 1-5 岁的儿童中进行，这些儿童居住在城市贫民窟，旨在研究营养不良的程度及其与常见儿童疾病的关系。采用便利抽样（非概率）选择参与者，并使用结构化、半开放式、预测试、访谈者管理的问卷对适当的受访者进行访谈。采用国家卫生统计中心（NCHS）参考中位数的≤2 个标准差（-评分<-2）截断值来计算营养不良（年龄体重）、发育迟缓（年龄身高）和消瘦（身高体重）的患病率。使用适当的显著性检验对数据进行分析。参与者的平均年龄为 33.9±13.9 个月。营养不良、发育迟缓、消瘦的比例分别为 29.2%、66.8%和 12.9%。报告的参与者中最常见的疾病是呼吸道疾病（56.9%）。在过去 3 个月内报告患有病毒性发热的儿童中，消瘦的比例更高，这种关联具有统计学意义（=0.003）。令人震惊的营养不良率再次强调了常见感染和营养不良之间的协同关系。因此，必须强调并加强世界卫生组织（WHO）综合儿童疾病管理中概述的营养干预作用，作为<5 岁儿童传染病病例管理的一部分。
