Nutritional status of schoolchildren in Jos East Local Government Area of Plateau State, North Central Nigeria

Background: Most nutritional surveys either focus on under-five children or adolescents aged 10–19 years. Few works have been reported among school-aged children of 6–12 years. In Nigeria, a recent demographic health survey only focused on under-five children. Thus, not much is discussed as regards the nutritional state of children aged 6–12 years.Objective: To determine the prevalence and pattern of malnutrition among school-aged children in Jos East Local Government Area of Plateau State using the 2007 World Health Organization (WHO) standards for schoolchildren and adolescents.Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on schoolchildren aged 6–12 years from 10 schools. Sociodemographic data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Height and weight were measured according to standard procedures. The height-for-age Z-score and the body mass index-for-age Z-score were generated from the WHO software Anthroplus®. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 17.0 software was used for data analysis.Results: The mean age of the participants was 9.5 ± 1.8 years, and the male:female ratio was 1.1:1. The mean weight and height were 25.06 ± 4.56 kg and 128.07 ± 10.01 cm, respectively. The prevalence of stunting was 10.34%, overweight/obesity 4.47%, and thinness 1.39%. The adolescent age group (10–12 years) had a significantly higher (15.98%) prevalence of stunting than that of the preadolescent age group (3.66%).Conclusion: Chronic undernutrition is a problem among the schoolchildren considered in this study with the adolescent age group bearing the greater burden.