E Ali1, R Zachariah1, S G Hinderaker2, S Satyanarayana3, W Kizito4, P Alders5, Z Shams6, M Allaouna5, B Draguez5, P Delchevalerie5, D A Enarson7. 1. Médecins Sans Frontières, Medical Department (Operational Research), Brussels Operational Centre-Luxembourg, Luxembourg. 2. Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. 3. International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, New Delhi, India. 4. Médecins Sans Frontières, Keibera, Nairobi, Kenya. 5. Médecins Sans Frontières, Operations Centre Brussels, Brussels, Belgium. 6. Médecins Sans Frontières, Kamrangirchar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 7. International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris, France.
Abstract
SETTING: Kamrangirchar slum, Dhaka, Bangladesh. OBJECTIVE: During nutritional surveys and in circumstances when it is difficult to ascertain children's age, length/height cut-offs are used as proxy for age to sample children aged 6-59 months. In a context of prevalent stunting, using data from primary health care centres where age and height parameters were well-recorded, we assessed the proportion of children aged between 6 and 59 months who would be excluded from nutritional assessment using a height cut-off of 65 cm as a proxy for age ≥6 months. DESIGN: This was a secondary data analysis of primary health centre data. RESULTS: A total of 2060 children were included in the analysis, with a median age of 24 months and a median height of 78 cm (SD 12.1, range 50-109 cm). There were 240 (12%, 95%CI 10-13) children aged between 6 and 29 months, with a height <65 cm. The majority (59%) of these children were females; 97.5% were aged 6-17 months. CONCLUSION: In an urban slum setting in Bangladesh, the use of the current height cut-off as a proxy for age excludes vulnerable children from nutritional assessment and could also lead to underestimation of the prevalence of malnutrition in nutritional surveys.
SETTING: Kamrangirchar slum, Dhaka, Bangladesh. OBJECTIVE: During nutritional surveys and in circumstances when it is difficult to ascertain children's age, length/height cut-offs are used as proxy for age to sample children aged 6-59 months. In a context of prevalent stunting, using data from primary health care centres where age and height parameters were well-recorded, we assessed the proportion of children aged between 6 and 59 months who would be excluded from nutritional assessment using a height cut-off of 65 cm as a proxy for age ≥6 months. DESIGN: This was a secondary data analysis of primary health centre data. RESULTS: A total of 2060 children were included in the analysis, with a median age of 24 months and a median height of 78 cm (SD 12.1, range 50-109 cm). There were 240 (12%, 95%CI 10-13) children aged between 6 and 29 months, with a height <65 cm. The majority (59%) of these children were females; 97.5% were aged 6-17 months. CONCLUSION: In an urban slum setting in Bangladesh, the use of the current height cut-off as a proxy for age excludes vulnerable children from nutritional assessment and could also lead to underestimation of the prevalence of malnutrition in nutritional surveys.
Entities:
Keywords:
age; height; malnutrition; nutrition survey; operational research
Authors: Claudine Prudhon; Zita Weise Prinzo; André Briend; Bernadette M E G Daelmans; John B Mason Journal: Food Nutr Bull Date: 2006-09 Impact factor: 2.069
Authors: A M V Kumar; S Satyanarayana; S Dar Berger; S S Chadha; R J Singh; P Lal; J Tonsing; A D Harries Journal: Public Health Action Date: 2015-03-21