Maternal Education, Reported Morbidity and Number of Siblings are Associated with Malnutrition among Lodha Preschool Children of Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India

Introduction Malnutrition among tribal preschool children is highly prevalent in almost all states of India and is the predisposing factor for morbidity as well as mortality. Aim of the study was to detect prevalence of malnutrition and their associated factors. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study on 141 children aged 1-5 years, of Lodha tribal were included in the present study. Data was collected in pre-structured questionnaire, which included household socio-demographic data, morbidity status of child and anthropometric measurements like height, weight. Statistical analyses were undertaken using MedCalc statistical software. Results The overall prevalence of malnutrition in the form of underweight, stunting, wasting and overweight was 40.4%, 29.8%, 34.0%, 5.0%, respectively. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of severity of malnutrition, the overall prevalence of underweight and wasting was very high, indicating a critical situation. The reported morbidity was 20.6% and majority of children suffered from diarrhoea (7.8%). The results revealed that morbidity status, number of sibling, mother literacy status had significant association on underweight more importantly ( P<0.05); rate of underweight was significantly higher among children who had reported morbidity, no of sibs 3 and above and or illiterate mothers. They had 3.7, 2.15 and 2.81 times greater risk of being underweight. Similarly, children having morbidity had more than 3 times greater chance of developing wasting. Conclusion The Lodha pre-school children were suffering from nutritional stress which was associated with reported morbidity, mother's lack of education and high number of siblings.