title: Relationship of nutritional status with tuberculin sensitivity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence of under-nutrition among school children and to find out the relationship between nutritional status and tuberculin sensitivity.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross sectional study was carried out among 3335 children between 5-8 years of age attending 60 schools in Bangalore city selected by stratified random sampling. The nutritional anthropometric indices were calculated using reference median as recommended by World Health Organization, classified according to standard deviation units termed as Z-scores. The nutritional status of the children was assessed by Weight for age, Height for age and Bio-mass-index (BMI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Depending upon the method for classifying nutritional status, the prevalence of under-nutrition (including mild and severe under-nutrition) varied between 14.9-29.8%. The prevalence of severe under-nutrition varied from 2.9-6.7%. The frequency distributions of reaction sizes were found to be similar among children classified by nutritional status. The differences in proportions of significant reactions (=10 mm) and mean tuberculin reaction sizes between children classified by nutritional status were not found to be statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tuberculin sensitivity was not influenced by nutritional status among apparently healthy school children.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Section, National Tuberculosis Institute, Bangalore, India. vin_chadha@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Vineet K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Chadha
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jitendra
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.lastname: Umadevi
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014374:Tuberculin Test; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*