title: Thinness is a major underlying problem among Indian children.
abstract: The incidence of child undernutrition is high around the world, particularly alarming in the developing countries. This cross-sectional investigation has been undertaken among rural primary school-going children residing in Phansidewa block of Darjeeling district. The study sample was 2111 children (1028 boys; 1083 girls) aged 5-12 years. Height, weight was taken and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. The recent international cut-off of BMI of Cole et al. was used to assess the prevalence of thinness. The overall mean BMI among boys and girls were 14.01 ± 1.57 kg m(-2) and 14.17 ± 1.87 kg m(-2) respectively (p < 0.05). A very high prevalence was observed in overall thinness (71.11% boys; 67.77% girls, p > 0.05) in the different grades of thinness. Child undernutrition (thinness) is a major underlying problem in Indian rural children, especially in rural West Bengal, where appropriate nutritional intervention strategies are necessary to improve their nutritional status.
authors.forename: Nitish
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.forename: Jaydip
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sen
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D044466:Asian People; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology*