The prevalence of malnutrition based on anthropometry among primary schoolchildren in Binh Dinh province, Vietnam in 2016

Effect of nutritional counselling for using anthropometric indices among Indians

Malnutrition in children under 5 years is a major public health problem in developing countries. Malnutrition complex comprises of under-nutrition including multiple conditions like acute, chronic malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and nutrition related to obesity. Therefore, it is of interest to report data on the individualized nutritional counselling on nutritional status among mild to moderately malnourished children aged 2 - 5 years at one, three and six month follow up. Their dietary habits will help to determine the aetiology of mild/moderate malnutrition.150 Children attending outpatient department of the Department of Paediatrics of D Y Patil Medical College and admitted with mild/moderate malnutrition were included in the study after taking informed consent from their parents. The children were randomly allocated into 4 groups (group 1 - 4). The groups consisted of children where dedicated nutritional counselling was provided at 1 month, 1 and 3 month follow up and where-in no dedicated counselling was provided. A diet chart was provided with counselling. Group 4 followed up with routine care without any dietary intervention. Detailed dietary, socio economic history, clinical examination with anthropometry was done followed-up at 1, 3, 6 months from date of inclusion. Majority (57.3%) belonged to lower socio-economic class according to Kuppuswamy scale. The mean birth weight was 2.4 kg, age 34.5 months and age of weaning 7.6 months. Data shows that 70% children had mild malnutrition and 30% moderate malnutrition. At 6 month follow up amongst 105 children with mild malnutrition, 82 still had mild malnutrition, 4 normal, 19 had moderate malnutrition. Under-five childhood malnutrition is highly prevalent in poor socioeconomic strata of the society. Nutritional counselling provided by trained healthcare providers in existing settings are effective in improving nutritional status, daily calorie/protein intake, prevention of malnutrition. Prevention/treatment of co-existing illness bears equal importance.

Investigate the risk factors of stunting, wasting, and underweight among under-five Bangladeshi children and its prediction based on machine learning approach

Aims

Malnutrition is a major health issue among Bangladeshi under-five (U5) children. Children are malnourished if the calories and proteins they take through their diet are not sufficient for their growth and maintenance. The goal of the research was to use machine learning (ML) algorithms to detect the risk factors of malnutrition (stunted, wasted, and underweight) as well as their prediction.

Methods

This work utilized malnutrition data that was derived from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey which was conducted in 2014. The selected dataset consisted of 7079 children with 13 factors. The potential risks of malnutrition have been identified by logistic regression (LR). Moreover, 3 ML classifiers (support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and LR) have been implemented for predicting malnutrition and the performance of these ML algorithms were assessed on the basis of accuracy.

Results

The average prevalence of stunted, wasted, and underweight was 35.4%, 15.4%, and 32.8%, respectively. It was noted that LR identified five risk factors for stunting and underweight, as well as four factors for wasting. Results illustrated that RF can be accurately classified as stunted, wasted, and underweight children and obtained the highest accuracy of 88.3% for stunted, 87.7% for wasted, and 85.7% for underweight.

Conclusion

This research focused on the identification and prediction of major risk factors for stunting, wasting, and underweight using ML algorithms which will aid policymakers in reducing malnutrition among Bangladesh’s U5 children.

Health and disease among Somali primary school children in Hargeisa

Background and objective: Limited data exist on health conditions of school children in Somaliland. School Health Intervention Pilot Program (SHIPP) was conducted through Edna Adan University Hospital to screen children and offer interventions. We present the results of the general health screening of the school children, and also describe the association between nutritional status and other variables.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study children from two public primary schools in Hargeisa were assessed for general health by nursing students. Nutritional status was assessed by BMI-for-age z-scores and visual acuity by Paediatric Snellen Chart.

Results: We screened 2,093 children aged 4–19 years; 58% were boys. Very low BMI-for-age (z-score < −3) was detected in 10%; 6% had visual acuity below 0.7; 26% had dental caries. Children reported low exposure to health services: 33% reported no prior vaccination; 46% reported they had never visited a health clinic or hospital.

Conclusion: A significant number of children were malnourished, had reduced visual acuity or treatable infections which could impact their ability to learn. Public schools are a feasible entry point for public health action including screening, treatment, and referral in fragile countries.

Prevalence of goiter among children aged 8-10 in Binh Dinh province, Vietnam in 2016-2017

Objective

The study was conducted to estimate the goiter prevalence, and the median urine iodine concentrations among schoolchildren aged 8–10 in Binh Dinh province, Vietnam.

Methods

A school-based cross-sectional survey was carried out from May 2016 to May 2017. A multistage, proportional-to-population-size sampling method with 30 clusters was used. The children were examined by palpation for the presence or absence of goiter based on the criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency (ICCIDD); urinary iodine was determined in microplates by a modification of the Sandell-Kolthoff reaction. The Chi-square test was used to compare prevalences, and the Chi-square test for trend was employed to assess the trend of goiter prevalence and urine iodine levels by age and economic-social areas.

Results

1800 pupils from 8 to 10 years old including 900 males and 900 females were examined and 300 among them were tested for the urinary iodine concentration (UIC). The prevalence of goiter among schoolchildren was 6.6%. The prevalence of goiter tended to increase in areas with disadvantaged conditions, among which the urban areas occupied the lowest prevalence (5%) while the mountainous areas and Midland took the highest (8.8%) (the p-value of 0.0193). The median UIC of the study group was 159.9 µg/L; the 25^th and 75^th percentile value was 103 µg/L and 230.2 µg/L, respectively.

Conclusion

According to the WHO/UNICEF/ICCIDD classification, the goiter prevalence indicated that some regions of Binh Dinh province appeared to be slightly affected by iodine deficiency. These have characterized an important public health challenge, highlighting the need to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders in these areas.