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International Journal of Zoology and Applied Biosciences Research Article
A descriptive cross-sectional study on assessment of nutritional status of children under 5 years old: A community evaluation of associated risk factors
Rushi Naidu T, Doddi Sai Jyothi Poojitha, Mohammed Aarifa Mushrafi Rizvi, Charakani Gowthami, Bavirisetty Sridhar, Metta Ratna mallika and Madabattula Yogitha
Year : 2025 | Pages: 722-733
Received on: 10/10/2025
Revised on: 27/10/2025
Accepted on: 27/11/2025
Published on: 01/12/2025
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Rushi Naidu T, Doddi Sai Jyothi Poojitha, Mohammed Aarifa Mushrafi Rizvi, Charakani Gowthami, Bavirisetty Sridhar, Metta Ratna mallika and Madabattula Yogitha( 2025).
A descriptive cross-sectional study on assessment of nutritional status of children under 5 years old: A community evaluation of associated risk factors
. International Journal of Zoology and Applied Biosciences, 10( 6), 722-733.
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Abstract
Malnutrition is a condition that occurs when a person’s nutrient intake is deficient, excessive or imbalanced. Nutrition among children under 5 years of age plays a vital role in the overall growth of children bodily and cognitively. It affects all facets of children’s life and its fallout is not restricted to physical health but extent to mental, social and spiritual wellbeing. The objective of study was to assess malnutrition and evaluate their associated risk factors among under five years (0 – 5 years of age) children of Anganwadi Kendra’s of both Rural and Urban areas of Visakhapatnam. A community based descriptive cross-sectional study was performed among 150 under five-year-old children to assess the nutritional status by calculating anthropometric parameters like Height-for-age, Weight-for-age, Mid-arm-circumference according to WHO growth standards and evaluation of their associated risk factors by under taking Sociodemographic characteristic, dietary intake, breastfeeding practices, complementary feeding practices, clinical details of child & both parents through a structured questionnaire. The prevalence rate of underweight and stunting was 28% and 36% respectively among 150 children. The prevalence of underweight and stunting was found to be higher in males than females in our study. Overall highest prevalence rate in both stunting and underweight was found to be among under 1 year old children. The study concludes highest determinant affecting malnutrition are poor economic status of their parents (P-value: 0.01), birth order (P-value: 0.03), family size (P-value: 0.04) & few physical factors played a significant role in malnutrition of children under-five-year-old in our study. The findings showed that the nutritional status of under-five-children was quite moderate but it’s evident that it still persists as a major health problem among young children due to low socioeconomic factors and physical factors.
Keywords
Nutritional assessment, Anthropometry, Socioeconomic, Prevalence, Malnutrition.
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© The Author(s) 2025. This article is published by International Journal of Zoology and Applied Biosciences under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (creativecommons.org), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
