Anthropometric Assessment of Nutritional Status of Adolescents in Rural School of Unokoti District of Tripura, North-East India

Abstract

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 300 boys and girls (1:1) of 10-15 years, randomly selected, from three Govt. Secondary School of Unokoti District of Tripura State, to assess their nutritional status. The weight, height, head circumference (HC) and mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC), body mass index (BMI) and chest circumference (CC) were taken as nutritional status indices. Nutritional status was evaluated using the age and sex-specific cut-off points of anthropometric indicators of the NHANES-I percentile values. The percent of malnourished children was found varying from 53% to 76% on the basis of different nutritional status indices, socio-economic status, and sex. There is a decreasing trend in the proportion of undernourished child with increasing socio-economic status (SES). The low values of anthropometric indices and high rate of malnourished child obtained from this study suggest that there is need for improvement in the nutritional status of adolescents.