Assessment of the Nutritional Status of Adolescents in Orphanage from Lahore, Pakistan

Orphans are one of the most vulnerable groups to nutritional deficiency, which require more nutritional care for proper growth and development. Assessment of nutritional status has cornerstone importance in orphans because growth retardation is mainly caused by undernutrition. As United Nations indicated in a recent report, there are more than 4.3 million orphan children in Pakistan and many of them are under age nearly of 17. The study aims to assess adolescent’s nutritional status and the relationship between BMI and their dietary habits. The current study is a cross-sectional study conducted on 80 orphan children aged (10-19 years). The sample of orphan children was taken from three orphanages in Lahore via non-probability convenient sampling. The data was collected using a questionnaire that included questions related to anthropometric measurements, clinical assessment, and food frequency tables. Data were analyzed by using SPSS software version 25. The frequency of orphans with normal BMI was 51.2% among the study sample. Indicatively, majority of children were suffering from paleness and dryness of skin, white spots in nails, redness in eyes, dry and brittle hair, and discolored or spongy gums. Dietary history showed that consumption of bread and cereals, starchy vegetables, junk food, and carbonated beverages was more common among orphanages. Orphan children in diverse orphanages had sub-clinical nutritional deficiencies due to poor dietary habits; emphasizing the need for detailed assessment of nutritional status in orphanages for the applications of related interventions to prevent nutritional deficiencies.