Very high prevalence of thinness using new international body mass index cut off points among 5-10 year old school children of nandigram, west Bengal, India

Abstract

• BACKGROUND: To assess the prevalence of thinness among 5-10 year old school children of Nandigram, Purba Medinipur District of West Bengal, India.
• METHODS: A total of 596 students (323 boys and 288 girls) aged 5-10 years were included in this cross-sectional study. Height and weight were measured and the body mass index (BMI) was computed. The new  nternational BMI-based classification cut-off points proposed by Cole et al were utilized to identify thinness.
• RESULTS: The overall (age-combined) mean BMI among boys and girls were 13.9 kg/m2 (SD = 1.4) and 13.8 kg/m2 (SD = 1.2), respectively. In general, mean BMI increased with age in both sexes. There was no  ignificant sex difference in mean BMI. The overall (age-combined) prevalence of thinness was 62.9% and 61.6% in boys and girls,  espectively.
• CONCLUSIONS: The present study clearly indicated that the nutritional situation of these children was unsatisfactory.
• KEYWORDS: Body mass index, undernutrition, thinness, IOTF cut off points, nandigram, West Bengal.