title: Intestinal helminthiasis, nutritional status, and their relationship; a cross-sectional study in urban slum school children in Indonesia.
abstract: In a study of urban slum school children (276 boys and 231 girls), in Ujung Pandang, Indonesia, parasitological and anthropometric exams were cross-sectionally performed to assess prevalence and intensity of helminth infections and nutritional status. Prevalence of Ascaris, Trichuris and hookworm was 92%, 98%, and 1.4%, respectively. 91% children had both Ascaris and Trichuris infections. About half of the Ascaris- and Trichuris-infected children (46% and 58%, respectively) had moderate infections. Stunting was seen in 55% of the children, while wasting was observed in 10%. Boys had lower nutritional status than girls (p < 0.001), based on weight-for-age (WA) and height-for-age (HA) Z-scores. Age had an inverse relationship with WA and HA Z-scores (p < 0.0004). A relationship between helminth infections and nutritional status was observed between log Trichuris egg count and WA and HA Z-scores after controlling for age, sex, and log Ascaris egg count (p = 0.048 for HA Z-score, and p = 0.058 for WA Z-score). The relationship was also found when Trichuris infection was categorized into mild, moderate, and severe infections (p = 0.017 and p = 0.001 for HA and WA Z-scores, respectively). Scheffe's test for multiple mean comparisons showed that Trichuris-infected children with above 1,000 eggs per gram feces had significantly lower nutritional status than lower epg or non-infected children (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05 for HA and WA Z-scores respectively).
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Public Health, Hasanuddin University, Ujung Pandang, Indonesia.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hadju
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abadi
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Stephenson
authors.forename: N N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Noor
authors.forename: H O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Mohammed
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Bowman
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia / Q000453:epidemiology; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D014504:Urban Health