ASSESSMENT OF ANTHROPOMETRIC FAILURE AMONGST UNDER FIVE CHILDREN IN AN URBANIZED VILLAGE OF DELHI: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Background:Childhood malnutrition is a major public health problem be it a developing or developed country. It is a major contributor to the deaths among the under-five group. This highlights the need for an accurate index to measure the burden of malnutrition correctly as traditionally used indices underestimate the burden.A new index, the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure- CIAF can give a better approximation of the burden of malnutrition amongst under five children. 

Objective:To assess the nutritional status in terms of Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) amongst under five children in the study population.

Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted to include 260 children under five yearsusing stratified random sampling, in an urbanized village of Delhi from November 2018 to April 2020. Data was collected using pre-designed, semi structured questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were taken according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Using WHO 2006 growth charts, Weight-for-Age, Height-for-Age and Weight-for-Height were determined for each child and were used to calculate Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) Prevalence (%).Descriptive statistics and chi square test were applied.

Results and Conclusion:Out of the total 260 study participants, only 80 (30.8%) participants had no anthropometric failure i.e., 69.2% had one or more type of anthropometric failure. According to standard anthropometric indices, 39.2% were underweight, 40.8% stunted and 47.3% were wasted. CIAF can act as a single aggregated figure to determine the status of undernourished children in the community.