PMID- 22164970
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20120105
LR  - 20170214
IS  - 0379-5721 (Print)
IS  - 0379-5721 (Linking)
VI  - 32
IP  - 2
DP  - 2011 Jun
TI  - Growth and nutritional status of preschool children in India: a study of two 
      recent time periods.
PG  - 84-93
AB  - BACKGROUND: Preschool children call for focused attention in India because India 
      has the highest percentage of undernourished children in the world. OBJECTIVE: To 
      compare the growth and nutritional status of Indian preschool children for the 
      periods 1998/99 and 2005/06, SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Using data on weight and 
      length/height as well as the sociodemographic background of preschool children 
      from the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) from 1998/99 and 2005/06, we 
      determined the distribution of weight and length/height and their association 
      with sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: The distributions of weight and 
      length/height around the mean remained remarkably stable over age but were much 
      greater in India than the international norms. The rates of growth of mean weight 
      and length/ height were far lower in India than the international norms up to the 
      age of 2 years. The temporal trend indicates declines in the percentages of 
      undernourished (low weight-for-age) and stunted (low height-for-age) children 
      over the 7-year period, although the degree of improvement was far better for 
      stunting than for underweight. Mother's educational status is the only variable 
      that has been found to influence child nutrition. CONCLUSION: The level of 
      mothers' education needs urgent attention with top priority to reduce the 
      prevalence of underweight and stunting of children. This also implies that, for 
      future benefit, girls should be given more facilities for better education. 
      Breastfeeding and weaning practices also need special attention.
FAU - Sen, Pronab
AU  - Sen P
AD  - Planning Commission, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
FAU - Bharati, Susmita
AU  - Bharati S
FAU - Som, Suparna
AU  - Som S
FAU - Pal, Manoranjan
AU  - Pal M
FAU - Bharati, Premananda
AU  - Bharati P
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Food Nutr Bull
JT  - Food and nutrition bulletin
JID - 7906418
SB  - IM
MH  - Body Height/ethnology
MH  - Body Weight/ethnology
MH  - *Child Development
MH  - Child, Preschool
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - Developing Countries
MH  - Educational Status
MH  - Female
MH  - Growth Disorders/economics/*epidemiology/ethnology
MH  - Health Surveys
MH  - Humans
MH  - India/epidemiology
MH  - Infant
MH  - Infant, Newborn
MH  - Male
MH  - Malnutrition/economics/*epidemiology/ethnology
MH  - Mothers
MH  - *Nutritional Status/ethnology
MH  - Prevalence
MH  - Socioeconomic Factors
EDAT- 2011/12/15 06:00
MHDA- 2012/01/06 06:00
CRDT- 2011/12/15 06:00
PHST- 2011/12/15 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2011/12/15 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2012/01/06 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1177/156482651103200202 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Food Nutr Bull. 2011 Jun;32(2):84-93. doi: 10.1177/156482651103200202.