Assessment of Nutritional Status and Morbidity Pattern among School Children of Rural Puducherry

Abstract

Introduction: School health has been considered as an important tool in the assessment and promotion of health among children. Inspite of several health programmes in existence, malnutrition continues to remain a threat, leading to morbidities among school children. Objective: To assess the nutritional status and morbidity pattern among school children in rural Puducherry. Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted among children studying in a rural school of Puducherry during January 2009. A total of 548 students from age group 6 -17 years were examined. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information regarding demographic characteristics, anthropometric data and morbidity pattern of the children. All quantitative variables were analyzed using mean and standard deviation and all qualitative variables were analysed for proportions. To look for differences between the Mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of each age group of boys and girls with that of the reference BMI values, Students unpaired t- test was used and a p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.