Grades of undernutrition and socioeconomic status influence cognitive development in school children of Kolkata.

Cognitive development of children is influenced by different environmental factors like nutritional and socio-economic status. The objectives of the present study were to determine the influence of grades of undernutrition and socio-economic status (SES) on the cognitive development of school children of Kolkata. Five hundred sixty six (566) school children having 5-12 years of age were selected from different schools of Kolkata. The cognitive development was measured by the scores of Raven's colored progressive matrices (RCPM). The chronic and acute nutritional statuses were measured from height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ) Z scores respectively with reference to the values of WHO. SES was determined by updated Kuppuswamy scale. The prevalences of undernutrition in the observed children were 57.95% (according to HAZ) and 52.82% (according to WAZ). The age dependent growth curve of RCPM scores of the observed children remains in between the 10th and 25th centile of British children. The children belonging to superior and intellectual deficit IQ classes were 21.55 and 36.40%, respectively of the total subjects. Most of the subjects belong to lower middle (39.93%) and upper middle (36.40%) class of SES. RCPM scores of school children were gradually decreased with the grades of undernutrition and SES. RCPM scores were significantly correlated with HAZ, WAZ, SES, age, and sex (P < 0.001) and strongly associated with HAZ, SES, age, and sex (P < 0.001, P < 0.05). Present study indicates that cognitive development of school children of Kolkata is influenced by the grade of undernutrition and SES.