Assessment of the anthropometric nutritional status of Venezuelan schoolchildren aged 3 to 18 years

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction. Insufficient income in the family to feed themselves and the ineffectiveness of the school feeding program are factors that affect the nutritional status and favor the rise of school dropouts. Objective. Determine the nutritional status of a group of children and adolescents from 13 schools in vulnerable communities. Materials and methods. Descriptive cross-sectional study in 7,252 schoolchildren from 3 to 18 years old, seven in the Bolívar state (EB) and six in the Capital District (DC) and Miranda State (EM), carried out between May and June, 2019. The analysis was carried out in preschoolers of 3 to 5 years and in schoolchildren from 6 to 18 years, according to location and sex.
Nutritional status was determined with weight-height (W/T) and height-age (T/E) in preschoolers and the Body Mass Index (BMI) in schoolchildren. Reference values and WHO cut-off points. Results: The percentage of acute malnutrition in preschool children was (1.5%) in both localities and the EB risk was 3.1% and DC-EM 3.3%. CR 8.2%, higher EB (8.5%) and male (8.2%). In schoolchildren, thinness-severe thinness (6%), short and very short stature (6.8%) and very low overweight (1%-1.4%). Conclusion. In preschool children, the CR exceeds the AD, results that summarize the magnitude of the delay in the first 1,000 days and the impact of child malnutrition that leaves its mark on short stature. The lowerfigures for acute malnutrition, growth retardation and thinness than in other studies possibly reflect the presence of some protective factors that should be investigated.