Nutritional status of schoolchildren assisted at an Ecuadorian foster home

Abstract:

Rationale: Reports on the nutritional status of Ecuadorian children cared for at orphanage are scarce. Objective: To describe the nutritional status of children assisted at an orphanage in the city of Guayaquil. Study design: Descriptive, cross-sectional. Study serie: One-hundred and eighteen children (Orphans: 44.0%; Girls: 59.9%; Average age: 8.0±2.8 years) assisted at the “San José del Buen Pastor” school, city of Guayaquil (Ecuador), between September 2014 and June 2015. Material and method: Schoolchild’s nutritional status was established from Height for Age (Low Height for Age:‹-2.0 standard deviations for sex and age) as well as Body Mass Index (BMI): Low Weight for Age: BMI‹-2.0 standard deviations for sex and age vs. Excessive Weight for Age: BMI›+ 2.0 standard deviations for sex and age. In addition, body fat (BF) size was estimated by means of electrical bioimpedance. Results: Low height for age frequency was 6.8%(Non-orphans: 3.0% vs. Orphans: 11.5%(Δ=-8.5%; p‹ 0.05). Low weight for age presented in less than 1.0% of the study serie. On the other hand, excessive weight for age affected 2.5% of children. Nonorphan children reunited the extreme body weight values. Orphanhood did not influence upon BF size: Non-orphans: 25.2±6.6% vs. Orphans: 19.8±7.5%(p› 0.05). Conclusions: Forms of child undernutrition, as well as excessive body weight, were infrequent among the examined children.

Año de publicación:

2017

Keywords:

Fuente:

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