Assessment of Nutritional Status Using Anthropometric Methods on 1–4 Year Old Children in an Urban Ghetto in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the nutritional status using anthropometry of 1-4 year old children in an urban slum in the Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State, with a view to determining the impact of urbanization on child health. A total of 365 children were enrolled using multistage random sampling techniques. Anthropometric measurements used were weight and height. Height-for-age, weight-for-height, and weight-for-age Z-scores below -2.00 SD of the reference NCHS standard were used to define stunting, wasting and underweight, respectively. The study revealed a prevalence of underweight of 39.2%, stunting of 34.5% and wasting of 21.9%. The mean of weight-for-age, height-for-age, weight-for-height and mid-upper-arm-circumference were less than the mean of the NCHS reference population. This difference might be due to the socio economic backgrounds of the two populations. Using the modified Wellcome Classification of malnutrition, 37.8% of the children were malnourished. Most subjects came from homes with inadequate water supply and poor refuse disposal methods.

Nutritional Status of Children in Rural setting.

“…Ijarotimi et al at Akure 22 ascribed the disparity between the male and female child that males are better fed than their female siblings, the "lions share" of the meat/fish will always go to the males. Collectively prevalence of stunting from our study was19.2%, result was low compared to studies from Akure Lagos, andMarkurdi 5,22,23 however slightly higher than what was obtained at Abeokuta were prevalence was 16.7% 20 . Stunting was more prevalent among the males 56.7% than their female counterparts 43.3%, this is consistent with other works 15,19,22,24, ,but differ from the other findings among school children which revealed that more girls had poorer health or were wasted and stunted than the boys 25 .…”

“…3,4 under nutrition is the most common type of malnutrition and the primary cause of ill health and premature mortality among children in developing countries and it is postulated that poverty and ignorance are primary causal factors of malnutrition in developing countries. 5,6 Chronic under nutrition in childhood is linked to slower cognitive development and serious health impairments later in life that reduce the quality of life of individuals. 7 The world summit for children in 1990 in which 159 members participated agreed to end malnutrition and other health problems of children by the end of the decade.…”

Water and sanitation associated with improved child growth

“…In the same population, Ricci and Becker (1996) found inverse associations with water and sanitation facilities and risk of stunting in a prospective study after adjustment for potential confounders among children over 6 months of age. Abidoye and Sikabofori found similar associations between water and sanitation and stunting in preschool children in Nigeria (Abidoye & Ihebuzor, 2001). Sedgh et al (2000) evaluated factors associated with reversal of stunting in our study population.…”

“…Previous studies examining the association between water and sanitation and nutritional status are limited because they have utilized cross-sectional (Kikafunda et al, 1998;Abidoye & Ihebuzor, 2001) or case-control (Mertens et al, 1990;Daniels et al, 1991) designs; although there were a few prospective studies (Magnani et al, 1993;Ricci & Becker, 1996;Rivera & Ruel, 1997;Liu et al, 1998), only one evaluated the interaction of water and sanitation on growth (Esrey et al, 1992). Moreover, studies of the interaction of water and sanitation on other health outcomes, including diarrhea and mortality, have had varying results depending upon the environmental characteristics of the place in which they were conducted or educational status of the mothers (Esrey et al, 1992;VanDerslice & Briscoe, 1995).…”

Contrasting Children and Women's Health and the Determinants of Health in a Small-Sized City

“…10 There is a clear evidence that poor people have a higher rate of mortality and morbidity and poorer health services accessibility than more prosperous people in the same city. [11][12][13] Many studies conducted in different countries have shown that even in the same city, poor housing design and management are associated with problems and dissatisfaction compared with relatively well-constructed ones. 1,5,10,11, Health conditions of the urban poor are often less well known than might be expected not only because the information available is apt to be sparse, but also because that which is available is sometimes poorly analyzed and presented.…”