LETTER TO EDITOR
Year : 2016 | Volume
: 7 | Issue : 2 | Page : 155-
Malnutrition in under-five children
Manas Pratim Roy
Department of Pediatrics, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India
Correspondence Address:
Manas Pratim Roy
Department of Pediatrics, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi - 110 029
India
How to cite this article:
Roy MP. Malnutrition in under-five children.Muller J Med Sci Res 2016;7:155-155
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How to cite this URL:
Roy MP. Malnutrition in under-five children. Muller J Med Sci Res [serial online] 2016 [cited 2023 Jun 3 ];7:155-155
Available from: https://www.mjmsr.net/text.asp?2016/7/2/155/185023 |
Full Text
Dear Editor,
The article by Singh et al. expressed the grave scenario of malnutrition in children in our country. [1] The authors successfully portrayed the role of socioeconomic factors on malnutrition in their article. However, the observations pertaining to economic groups are surprising as the chance of malnutrition was greater in economically well-off groups, as evident from the regression. The interpretation of odds ratio (OR) is also a matter of debate. How could socioeconomic classes I, II, III, and IV have less chances of having malnutrition as compared to class V, even after having OR more than 1? The fit of the model also needs to be explained. The rationality of putting β-coefficient in the table is not clear. When dealing with logistic regression, mentioning OR would be sufficient.
There is need to correlate ongoing national programs with such high prevalence of malnutrition. The role of Anganwadi centers at the study area could have been highlighted. Was there any practice of measuring anthropometry or monitoring growth charts at those centers? As the study was conducted at the field practice area of a medical college, getting such information will be helpful for addressing the burden of malnutrition in the study population in future. How did the authors address the issue of low birth weight or recurrent infection, as these two are known to have their deleterious effect on the weight of the children?
Lastly, the study could have considered the child-feeding practices prevalent in that area. The extent of breastfeeding, timing of complementary feeding, and type of feeding would indeed provide a better understanding about the nutritional status of the children. The role of socioeconomic factors in malnutrition is undeniable but feeding practices matter a lot in precipitating such events in our country.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
References
| 1 | Singh H, Chaudhary V, Joshi HS, Upadhyay D, Singh A, Katyal R. Sociodemographic correlates of nutritional status of under-five children. Muller J Med Sci Res 2016;7:44-9. |
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