NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT IN A CHILD POPULATION AT RISK OF MALNUTRITION. PRONUSA PROJECT

Introduction: Honduras is one of the countries in Central America with the highest poverty rates and prevalence of child malnutrition. Objectives: To evaluate the nutritional status of children 0-5 years old in the communities that belong to the PRONUSA project (San Juan Pueblo, Department of Atlantida). Methods: Weight, height, triceps and subscapular folds, cranial, brachial, and waist perimeters were measured. Data of weight, height, BMI and "weight to height" have been interpreted according to the WHO child growth standards (2007) and CDC (Kuczmarski et al., 2002). The WHO child growth standards (2007) were used for cranial and brachial folds and perimeters. The Orbegozo standards were used for the waist perimeter (Fernández et al., 2011). Results: There is a high percentage of boys and girls in a normal situation concerning their weight and height, according to the WHO and CDC standards, although a high percentage stands out in "relative short stature". According to weight, the prevalence of malnutrition is higher when CDC standards are used, in comparison to WHO standards, a trend that is reversed for height. For BMI, the values obtained using the WHO standards show a greater trend towards excess weight, while those of CDC standards tend towards underweight. However, according to "weight to height" we found greater extreme malnutrition in boys and greater thinness in girls, comparing CDC with WHO. For both the folds and the perimeters measured, normality is the predominant nutritional status. There are more boys than girls in extreme situations, both for low and high values. Conclusions: 1. According to most of the parameters, normality predominates, with more boys than girls in extreme situations. 2. The prevalence of nutritional risk situations varies depending on the standards used.