Tamil Nadu nutritional survey comparing children aged 0-3 years with the NCHS/CDC reference population.

A cross-sectional nutritional survey of children belonging to Tamil Nadu State of India, aged 0-3 years was conducted on a representative sample of 2039 children. The collected data was analysed using the recommended indices of height-for-age and weight-for-height based on standard deviation (SD scores) and cross-classified using the SD scores. The nutritional status of these children was compared with the NCHS standard. Prevalence of stunting (27.6%), wasting (9.9%) and simultaneous wasting and stunting (10.7%) was high among the children studied.