A study of the geographical clustering of districts in Uttar Pradesh using nutritional anthropometric data of preschool children

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Worldwide variations in human growth and its genetic and environmental factors have been described. In this study, an attempt was made to assess the morphological differences and similarities among under 5 year children of rural areas of Uttar Pradesh State in India, and to determine differences or similarities of body size among children living in diverse regions. METHODS: For this purpose, a cross-sectional district nutrition profile study conducted during 2002-2003 was used. The data on 10,096 children drawn from 1080 villages in 54 districts were part of the district level Diet and Nutrition Assessment survey. The mean values for height and weight for 54 districts were taken as the input data for subsequent analysis. The data were first normalized by means of principal component analysis (PCA) and then K-means clustering was performed. RESULTS: The PCA and cluster analysis yielded four distinguishable clusters or patterns in the anthropometric data of children. These clusters were ordered according to the average body size (weight and height) of children. The mean stature and body weight of these children in cluster I were 3.2 cm and 1.4 kg higher than those of cluster IV indicating differences between clusters. Also, the variations between clusters in their social, demographic, health and nutrition parameters were compared. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: The use of PCA and cluster analysis methods and their merits in studying the Uttar Pradesh preschool children growth variations are discussed. These results helped in identifying the districts with higher prevalence of undernutrition and the contributing factors.