Table 1 Prevalence of children’s undernutrition and signs of nutritional deficiencies in four study sites
Malnutrition indicators, clinical outcomes and nutritional deficiency | [N (%)] | Sex | P-value | Age group | P-value | Area | P-value* | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male | Female | < 5 years | > 5 years | Surkhet A [n (%)] | Surkhet B [n (%)] | Dailekh [n (%)] | Accham [n (%)] | |||||
Malnutrition indicators | ||||||||||||
Stunting (n = 1389) | ||||||||||||
Severea | 248 (17.9) | 146 (18.8) | 102 (16.7) | 0.51 | 158 (17.8) | 90 (17.9) | 0.81 | 29 (8.5) | 49 (13.8) | 87 (25.1) | 83 (23.9) | 0.01 |
Moderateb | 370 (26.6) | 209 (26.9) | 161 (26.3) | 241 (27.2) | 129 (25.6) | 73 (21.5) | 83 (23.3) | 104 (30.1) | 110 (31.7) | |||
Normalc | 771 (55.5) | 422 (54.3) | 349 (57.0) | 487 (55.0) | 284 (56.5) | 238 (70.0) | 224 (62.9) | 155 (44.8) | 154 (44.4) | |||
Thinness (n = 1344) | ||||||||||||
Severea | 55 (4.1) | 25 (3.4) | 30 (5.0) | 0.31 | 36 (4.2) | 19 (3.9) | 0.83 | 12 (3.7) | 14 (3.9) | 16 (4.8) | 13 (4.0) | 0.31 |
Moderateb | 96 (7.1) | 54 (7.2) | 42 (7.0) | 63 (7.4) | 33 (6.7) | 19 (5.9) | 22 (6.2) | 34 (10.2) | 21 (6.4) | |||
Normalc | 1193 (88.8) | 667 (89.4) | 526 (88.0) | 752 (88.4) | 441 (89.4) | 293 (90.4) | 322 (89.9) | 284 (85.0) | 294 (89.6) | |||
Underweight (n = 1360) | ||||||||||||
Severea | 142 (10.4) | 83 (11.0) | 59 (9.8) | 0.63 | 88 (10.2) | 54 (10.9) | 0.88 | 16 (4.9) | 33 (9.2) | 49 (14.4) | 44 (13.3) | 0.01 |
Moderateb | 265 (19.5) | 151 (20.0) | 114 (18.9) | 171 (19.8) | 94 (19.0) | 40 (21.1) | 57 (15.8) | 85 (25.1) | 83 (25.1) | |||
Normalc | 953 (70.1) | 522 (69.0) | 431 (71.3) | 606 (70.1) | 347 (70.1) | 274 (83.0) | 270 (75.0) | 205 (60.5) | 204 (61.6) | |||
Clinical outcomes and signs/symptoms of nutritional deficiency (n = 1427) | ||||||||||||
Wasted appearance | 197 (13.8) | 95 (12.0) | 102 (16.0) | 0.03 | 145 (16.0) | 52 (10.0) | 0.01 | 29 (8.3) | 33 (9.0) | 66 (18.5) | 69 (19.3) | 0.01 |
Bitot’s spot | 283 (19.8) | 168 (21.3) | 115 (18.1) | 0.13 | 147 (16.2) | 136 (26.2) | 0.01 | 27 (7.8) | 65 (17.8) | 89 (25.0) | 102 (28.5) | 0.01 |
Loss of hair pigment | 153 (10.7) | 80 (10.1) | 73 (11.5) | 0.42 | 114 (12.6) | 39 (7.5) | 0.01 | 12 (3.5) | 46 (12.6) | 56 (15.7) | 39 (10.9) | 0.01 |
Dry and infected cornea | 189 (13.2) | 108 (13.7) | 81 (12.7) | 0.60 | 114 (12.6) | 75 (14.5) | 0.31 | 25 (7.2) | 26 (7.1) | 49 (13.8) | 89 (24.9) | 0.01 |
Oedema | 38 (2.7) | 18 (2.3) | 20 (3.14) | 0.32 | 28 (3.1) | 10 (1.9) | 0.91 | 4 (1.2) | 5 (1.4) | 9 (2.5) | 20 (5.6) | 0.01 |
Pale conjunctiva | 513 (35.9) | 279 (35.3) | 234 (36.7) | 0.01 | 309 (34.0) | 204 (39.3) | 0.05 | 83 (23.9) | 95 (26.0) | 154 (43.3) | 181 (50.6) | 0.01 |
Bowed legs | 37 (2.6) | 25 (3.2) | 12 (1.9) | 0.13 | 23 (2.5) | 14 (2.7) | 0.85 | 7 (2.0) | 3 (0.8) | 9 (2.5) | 18 (5.0) | 0.01 |
Spongy bleeding gums | 232 (16.3) | 131 (16.6) | 101 (15.9) | 0.71 | 104 (11.5) | 128 (24.7) | 0.01 | 37 (10.6) | 68 (18.6) | 70 (19.7) | 57 (15.9) | 0.01 |
Dermatitis | 818 (57.3) | 464 (58.7) | 354 (55.8) | 0.23 | 511 (56.3) | 307 (59.2) | 0.29 | 155 (44.5) | 200 (54.8) | 235 (66.0) | 228 (63.7) | 0.01 |
Red inflamed tongue | 261 (18.3) | 138 (17.5) | 123 (19.3) | 0.37 | 167 (18.4) | 94 (18.1) | 0.90 | 24 (6.9) | 62 (17.0) | 80 (22.5) | 95 (26.5) | 0.01 |
Sub-dermal haemorrhage | 66 (4.6) | 39 (4.9) | 27 (4.2) | 0.53 | 36 (4.0) | 30 (5.8) | 0.12 | 8 (2.3) | 16 (4.4) | 19 (5.3) | 23 (6.4) | 0.06 |
Goitre | 9 (0.63) | 7 (0.9) | 2 (0.3) | 0.18 | 7 (0.8) | 2 (0.4) | 0.38 | 1 (0.3) | 3 (0.8) | 1 (0.3) | 4 (1.1) | 0.41 |
Overall nutritional deficiency (N = 1427) | 1113 (78.0) | 58 (72.5) | 1055 (78.3) | 0.22 | 697 (76.8) | 416 (80.2) | 0.14 | 216 (62.1) | 269 (73.7) | 306 (86.0) | 322 (89.9) | 0.01 |