Environmental factors for severe acute malnutrition in under five children admitted at nutritional rehabilitation centre in central India

Abstract

Malnutrition is a major public health problem in India and it effects the growth and development of young children. It is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in under five children in developing countries. Globally, more than three million children under five years of age die each year from environment related causes and conditions. To study the environmental factors affecting severe acute malnutrition under five children admitted at nutritional rehabilitation centre. This was a case control study design. 350 cases were selected from N.R.C. of N.S.C.B. Medical College Jabalpur and 350 neighbourhood controls were selected from same community. The chi square test is applied for categorical variables and student t test is used to compare the continuous variables and odds ratio was calculated in statistical analysis. There was significant association between severe acute malnutrition in under five children with absence of separate kitchen (OR -3.2), kaccha house (OR-14.2), overcrowding present (OR-3.3), cross ventilation absent (OR-5.7), natural light absent in the house (OR-7.2) and open field defecation present (OR-6.5) in study subjects.