Thinness among rural children in Bengal.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the prevalence of thinness among 2-6 year old children of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme Bali-Gram Panchayat, Hooghly, West Bengal, India.


METHODS
Height and weight measurements were taken. The body mass index (BMI) was computed. The new international cut-off points classification proposed by Cole et al were utilized to identify thinness.


RESULTS
The overall (age-combined) mean BMI among boys and girls were 13.2 kg/m(2) (sd = 1.7) and 13.0 kg/m(2) (1.6), respectively. Mean BMI decreased from 2 to 5 years in both sexes. There were a significant (p < 0.05) sex difference in mean BMI (t = 2.57) at age 3 years. The overall (age-combined) prevalence of thinness among boys and girls were 84.8 % and 85.6 %, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present study clearly indicates that the nutritional status of these children is of concern.
Mandal
Gopal Chandra
GC
Department of Anthropology, Bangabasi College, Kolkata, India.
Bose
Kaushik
K
Bisai
Samiran
S
D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012424:Rural Population; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology*