Composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF): a better indicator of overall burden of undernutrition among primary school children
Abstract
Introduction: The three conventional indices were insufficient to measureoverall prevalence of child undernutrition and hence it was proposed to construct a Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF).
Objectives: To evaluate the overall burden of undernutrition using CIAF in primary school children of a rural area in West Bengal, India.
Method: A cross sectional study was carried out among 618 children (304 boys and 314 girls) from Government aided primary schools of Bali Gram Panchayat, Arambagh, Hooghly District, West Bengal, India.
Results: Prevalence of undernutrition measured by CIAF was 66.3% in comparison to 32.5% stunting, 57.1% underweight and 40.5% wasting, three conventional parameters.
Conclusions: CIAF is considered as a single measure which provides the overall burden of under-nutrition in the studied population and it represents the higher prevalence when compared with the three conventional measures used separately.
Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2021; 50(2): 194-199
© 2021 Gopal Chandra Mandal, Kaushik Bose, published by Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.