Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Mar;4(1):9-18.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijpam.2016.08.009. Epub 2016 Sep 13.

Prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors: A cross-sectional study among rural adolescents in West Bengal, India

Amitava Pal  1   2 , Amal Kumar Pari  3 , Arunangshu Sinha  2 , Prakash C Dhara  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors: A cross-sectional study among rural adolescents in West Bengal, India

Amitava Pal et al. Int J Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Malnutrition is a silent emergency and it is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children and adolescent throughout the world. The present study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of malnutrition among 10 to 17 years old adolescent and its association with socio-demographic factors.

Design and setting: This community based cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted between May 2014 to April 2015 on 839 subjects.

Subjects and methods: Anthropometric measures were measured in 560 adolescents in rural areas of West Bengal state, India, by using standard technique. Different socio-demographic variables were studied by questioner method.

Results: In the present investigation, about 54% of adolescents were stunted and 49% were thin. The adolescents belonged to lower social class were significantly more likely to be stunted (OR = 2.68) and thin (OR = 2.44). Other variables like father's occupation, mother's education, economic status and sanitation showed significant and negative association with undernutrition. However, mother's working status showed significant and positive association with undernutrition. Adolescents of working mothers were more likely to be stunted and thin than those who do not worked outside of the home. The adolescents of women with higher education were less likely to be undernourished than adolescents of poor and uneducated women. Adolescents of nuclear families (family size <4) were more likely to be stunted and thin.

Conclusions: Poverty is found to be an important factor of undernutrition among the adolescents. So there is a require to implement well-thought poverty reduction actions along with providing mass education regarding nutrition and health with a special focus on economically and socially deprived sections of the society.

Keywords: Adolescent; Malnutrition; Sociodemographic factors; Stunting; Thinness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Figure 1
Comparison of mean height, weight and BMI of the present study with WHO reference values.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Black R.E., Morris S.S., Bryce J. Where and why are 10 million children dying every year? Lancet. 2003;361:2226–2234. - PubMed
    1. The State of the World's Children 2005- Childhood under threat. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_24432.html
    1. Mengistu K., Alemu K., Destaw B. Prevalence of malnutrition and associated factors among children aged 6-59 Months at Hidabu Abote district, North Shewa, Oromia regional state. J Nutr Disord Ther. 2013 T1: 001.
    1. Park K. 18th ed. Banarasidas Bhanot Publishers; Jabalpur: 2005. Park's textbook of preventive and social medicine; p. 405.
    1. Singh J.P., Gupta S.B., Shrotriya V.P., Singh P.N. Study of nutritional status among under five children attending out patient department at a primary care rural hospital, Bareilly (UP) Sch J App Med Sci. 2013;1:769–773.