COMPARISON OF WHO GROWTH STANDARDS WITH INDIAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS STANDARDS OF UNDER FIVE CHILDREN IN AN URBAN SLUM

Abstract

Background: Child undernutrition is internationally recognized as an important public health indicator for monitoring nutritional status and health in populations. Prevalence of under nutrition is very high in India; especially in urban slums. Objective: To compare the prevalence of under nutrition among underfive children using WHO growth standards with IAP standards.Methods: Community based cross sectional study was done during November-2008 to December-2009 in urban field practice area of Medical College Pune, India. All the underfive children (336) were enumerated by house to house survey. Parents were informed about the objectives of the study and their written consent was obtained. Anthropometric measurements of the children who were available during the study period were carried out as per WHO guidelines and IAP standards. Various indices of nutritional status were expressed in standard deviation units (z scores) from the reference median. Epi-Info 2002 and Primer of Bio-statistics software package was used for statistical analysis.Results: Total 336 children were enumerated by house to house visit. Only 319 children were available during the study. Weights were recorded according to WHO and IAP standards. It was found that boys were more undernourished than girls by using WHO standards (P<0.005). When weights of girls were compared according to these two standards the girls were found to be more undernourished by WHO standards but difference was not statically significant.