title: Plasma zinc levels, anthropometric and socio-demographic characteristics of school children in eastern Nepal.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Zinc deficiency is a major public health problem in many developing countries including Nepal. The present study was designed to assess the prevalence of zinc deficiency and to study the association of zinc deficiency with anthropometric and socio-demographic variables, in school children of eastern Nepal.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study included total 125 school children of age group 6-12 years from Sunsari and Dhankuta districts of eastern Nepal. Plasma zinc level was estimated by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Median interquartile range (IQR) values of zinc in the two districts Sunsari and Dhankuta were 5.9 (4.4, 7.9) μmol/L and 5.8 (4.3, 8.4) μmol/L respectively. A total of 55 children (87.3%) in Sunsari and 52 (83.9%) in Dhankuta had zinc deficiency, no significant difference was observed in the Median (IQR) plasma zinc levels (p = 0.9) and zinc deficiency patterns (p = 0.3) of the two districts. Significant differences were observed in the plasma zinc levels (p = 0.02) and zinc deficiency patterns (p = 0.001), of the school children having age groups 6-8 years than in 9-10 and 11-12 years of age, and zinc deficiency patterns between male and female school children (p = 0.04) respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study showed higher prevalence of zinc deficiency among school children in eastern Nepal. In our study, zinc deficiency was associated with both sex and age. The findings from the present study will help to populate data for policy implementation regarding consumption and supplementation of zinc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, B,P, Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal. nepalashwini@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ashwini Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Nepal
authors.forename: Basanta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gelal
authors.forename: Kisundeo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Madhab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamsal
authors.forename: Paras Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Pokharel
authors.forename: Nirmal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baral
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood* / Q000172:deficiency
chemical_list: D015032:Zinc