A Study on the Nutritional Status of the School Going Adolescents of East Sikkim, North East India Dolkar Tshering1, Mehta Brig. V K2, Wangdi J T3,* 1Assistant Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine, SMIMS (Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences) 2Professor, Head of Department Dept. of Community Medicine, SMIMS (Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences) 3Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine, SMIMS (Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences) *Corresponding Author: Dr Jigdel T Wangdi Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine, SMIMS (Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences), 5th mile, Tadong-737102, Email: drjigdeltw@gmail.com
Online published on 20 March, 2019. Abstract Malnutrition arises either from deficiency or excess or imbalance of nutrients in the body. It is a term comprising all states of underweight & overweight. Adequate data on the nutritional status on the age group of adolescents, defined by WHO as individuals in the age group of 10-19yrs, is lacking. Method A Descriptive Cross sectional study using Multi-stage random sampling was carried out among adolescent students in Co Educational Senior Secondary Schools (Co-Ed SSS) of East Sikkim. Sample size Considering a Prevalence of malnutrition as 40%, relative error of 10% and using formula: 4 PQ/L2, Sample Size calculated to be 600. Results and Conclusions Private/Public and Government schools were covered to get a representative sample from all socioeconomic classes. Total 616 study subjects were included in the study. 27.4% of the school going adolescents were found to be malnourished in this present study. Both extremes of malnutrition are seen in the adolescent students of East Sikkim. The prevalence of Overweight/Obesity or Thin/Extreme Thinness among study subjects were observed to be 12.8%/2.8% and 8.4%/3.4% respectively. Top Keywords Adolescents, malnutrition, overweight, undernutrition, north east India, SIkkim. Top |