Impact of malnutrition on head size and development quotient

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition is one of the most common global health problem. It produces notable morphological changes in the brains which damage the intellectual potential and leads to reduced brain size, inferred from measurements of head circumference(HC). Aim is to study the impact of malnutrition on head size and development quotient(DQ) in children suffering with malnutrition.Methods: It is a hospital based study on 120 children including 100 moderates to severely malnourished children and 20 healthy controls aged 6-60 months admitted in malnutrition treatment center. Statistical analysis of head circumference and development quotient was done with severity of malnutrition and with each other.Results: Out of 120 children, 80 were severely malnourished (SAM) and 20 were moderately malnourished (MAM) and 20 age and sex matched controls were taken. Mean age was 19.00±8.54 months. 36.25% of severely malnourished, 5% of moderately malnourished children and none in control had microcephaly (HC