Assessment of Nutritional Status Using Mid-Upper Arm Circumference Among Bengalee Preschool Children of Sagar Island, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The present cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) based undernutrition among Bengalee preschool children. This study was undertaken among 656 (326 boys; 330 girls) 3-5 years old rural Bengalee preschool children of Sagar Block, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal, India. The MUAC was recorded according to standard procedure and nutritional status was evaluated using the World Health Organization (1995) guidelines. Age combined sex-specific mean values of MUAC among boys and girls were 14.58 (±0.90) cm and 14.48 (±0.85) cm respectively. Significant sex difference was observed at the age of 4 years (t=3.88, P=<0.001). Significant age variations were also found in mean MUAC. The overall prevalence of undernutrition was 25.61 percent. Boys (28.83%) were more undernourished than girls (22.42%). Prevalence of moderate undernutrition was more prevalent than severe undernutrition. Appropriate effective measures should be undertaken to reduce this undernutrition.

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“…The researchers' results revealed that overall rate of undernutrition was 25.61 percent and these rates were slightly higher among the boys (28.83%) than girls (22.42%). The prevalence of undernutrition among the Bengalee preschool children of the present study was much lower than (Table 5) those reported MUAC based study among the Bengalee preschool children (77.8%) of North 24 Parganas (Bisai 2010) and Hooghly district (64.5%) of West Bengal (Mandal and Bose 2009). The rate of undernutrition among the preschool children of the present study was higher than the reported MUAC (Table 5).…”

“…Measurement of MUAC is a quick and reliable method for screening children to identify those who are seriously malnourished (Biswas et al 2010). Several studies have been used MUAC to identify children as having moderate and severe acute malnutrition for its simplicity (Biswas et al 2010;Mandal et al 2009;Bisai 2010).…”