Comparative study of vitamin a and anthropometric status of children aged 6-24 months in urban and rural communities in kaduna state, nigeria.

Project Abstract

<p>This invest igat ion centered on Vi tamin A and anthropomet r ic status of 400<br>children aged 6-24 months in urban and rural communi t ies in Kaduna South<br>local government area, Nigeria. Select ion of chi ldren was through systemat ic<br>sampl ing technique. Two hundred children from each communi ty, ninety four<br>males (94) and one hundred and six (106) females from Makera (urban) and<br>ninety three males (93) and one hundred and seven (107) females from<br>Kinkinau ( rural) communi t ies completed the study. A st ructured quest ionnaire<br>was used to collect informat ion on maternal socioeconomic characteristics,<br>l iving condi t ions, heal th care, and 24-hour dietary recal l . Knowledge,<br>at t i tude and pract ice of heal thy l ife style and Vi tamin A supplementation<br>were assessed using focus group discussion. The anthropometric status of the<br>children were measured longi tudinal ly for 6 months wi th wooden length<br>board, and UNICEF weighing scale. Serum ret inol levels of a subsample of<br>100 subjects were determined. Blood samples were col lected by venipuncture<br>to obtain serum for measurement of retinol concentrat ion using high<br>performance l iquid chromatography.<br>The data was analyzed using<br>anthropomet ric z scores and categorized using WHO Anthro sof tware (2007).<br>Comparison was done using Chi square test for categorical variables and<br>ANOVA and t-test for cont inuous variables. Al l statistical analysis were done<br>using SPSS version 15 and signif icance judged at presul t , stunt ing (49.8%) was the major nutri t ional problem ident if ied in most<br>of the chi ldren. However, 14.1% and 7.5% were underweight and wasted,<br>respect ively. The composi te index of anthropomet ric fai lure (CIAF) counted<br>for a total of 55.3% of the chi ldren that had anthropometric fai lures.<br>However, 70.0 % (weight -for -length), 46.5 % (length-for-age) and 83.5 %<br>(weight-for-age) fell wi thin the normal region in al l anthropometr ic<br>indicators. The prevalence of overweight and obesi ty (combined) was high in<br>the rural (37%) as against 8.0% in the urban locat ion. A total of 84.5% of the<br>urban chi ldren had normal weight-for- length compared to 55.5% of the rural<br>children. Locat ion signif icant ly (p&lt;0.05) influenced weight-for -age status.<br>However, the percentage of chi ldren wasted in both locat ions was simi lar<br>(7.5%). Urban chi ldren had higher (55.0%) length-for -age value than the rural<br>(46.5%) children. Stunt ing was more prevalent in the rural (49.8%) than in<br>the urban (42.0%) areas. There was st rong associat ion between locat ion and<br>length-for -age status (p0.05) on the weight -for-age status. Age had no relat ionship<br>wi th underweight , stunt ing and wast ing in the locat ions and gender. However,<br>age group (6-10 months ) inf luenced (p&lt;0.05%) the prevalence of overweight<br>only in rural females. The growth veloci t ies fluctuated wi thin the study<br>period. The weight veloci ties of the male subjects were higher (p&lt;0.05) than<br>those of the females whi le length veloci t ies of the females were higher<br>(p&lt;0.05) than those of the males. The weight velocities of the rural children <br></p>

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