Association of nutritional status with socio-economic and demographic variables of under five year old Nepalese children

Background: To see which socioeconomic and demographic variables associate with the nutritional status of under five-year old Nepalese children. This nationwide study provides a comprehensive analysis on of risk factors for childhood acute and chronic undernutrion. Methods: The Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2006 was used as a cross sectional data source. A total of 3630 children were analysed. Standard Z-score were used for children. Anaemia was also defined using international norms. The statistical analysis used was binary logistic regression, which was performed using SPSS software package for Windows. The cut-off for a significant result was <0.05. Results: The results showed that 1680 (46.3%) of children were stunted, 1384 (38.1%) were underweight, 513 (14.1%) were wasted and 1631 (44.9%) were anaemic. Underweight and stunting showed significant association with mother’s education and ethnicity. All nutritional factors were associated with ecological zone and standard of living. Also, underweight and wasting showed a significant relationship with religion. Conclusion: Maternal education, ecological zone, ethnicity and standard of living were the main predictors of child nutritional status.