|Undernutrition & risk of infections in preschool children|
||Prema Ramachandran & Hema S. Gopalan ||Indian Journal of
Medical Research, November 2009, pp 579-583 Body Mass Index
(BMI) ||Background & objectives: It is well documented that in
preschool children undernutrition is associated with immune
depression and increased risk of infections; infections
aggravate undernutrition. Underweight is the most widely used
indicator for assessment of undernutrition for investigating
undernutrition and infection interactions. In India, nearly half
the children are stunted and underweight; but majority of
children have appropriate weight for their height and less than
a fifth are wasted. The present study was undertaken to explore
which of the five anthropometric indices for assessment of
undernutrition (weight for age, height for age, wasting, BMI for
age, and wasting and stunting with low BMI) is associated with
more consistent and higher risk of morbidity due to infection in
preschool children. Methods: The Nationa