Assessment of Nutritional Status among Tribal Students of Adolescent Age Group in a Residential School of Tribal Area, Tripura: A Cross-sectional Study

A BSTRACT Background: Malnutrition is the major public health problem in India. Nutritional status is the main key to determine the health and well-being of an individual, especially among the children and adolescent age groups. It has strong association with sociodemographic characteristics, impacts on quality of life, education, health as well as productivity of the individual. Objective: To evaluate the nutritional status and sociodemographic factors influencing malnutrition among tribal adolescents’ students of a residential school in Tripura. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out using the descriptive cross-sectional design. A total of 236 tribal students in the age group of 10–19 years from a tribal school of Tripura were interviewed by field investigators. The school was selected through the convenient sampling technique. The data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, physical activities, and anthropometry. The World Health Organization (WHO) classification for body mass index (BMI) was used to assess underweight, overweight, and obesity among the students. The WHO’s AnthroPlus software was used to generate the Z -scores for determining the nutritional status. Data were collected from September 2021 to October 2021 and also analyzed by the SPSS software. The Chi-squared test was performed to identify the significant determinants of malnutrition. Results: Clinical examination and anthropometric assessment were used to evaluate the children’s nutritional status. Based on BMI, out of 236 children, 55.51% were underweight and 0.85% was obese. The mean height, weight, and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) of the students were 42.34 ± 7.87, 153.26 ± 9.66, and 22.19 ± 5.13, respectively. “Height-for-Age” and “BMI-for-Age” were used to calculate the Z -score to identify stunting and under-nutrition. Stunting was more prevalent in the 10–14 years’ age group (54.22%), among female students (42.75%), based on “Height-for-Age,” and under nutrition was more prevalent in the 15–19 year age group (55.71%), among female students (53.44%), based on “BMI-for-Age.” Additionally, the Chi-squared test was used to analyze the various anthropometric variables (height, weight, and MUAC) in relation to BMI, and the outcome was shown to be statistically significant ( P < 0.001, 2 tailed 95% confidence interval). Both male and female students suffered from malnutrition, but female is more affected than male. Conclusion: It is evident from the study that school children in rural tribal area were under nutritional deficiency. Promoting healthy dietary habits, incorporating traditional and nutritious food items in daily diet through effective nutritional education would be an effective preventive method.