Underweight Among the Children Under Five Years Age in Northeastern States, India

Abstract

BackgroundAge-appropriate weight or underweight is one of the normative indexes of physical development that describe the nutritional state of children. Northeast India has a wide range of sociocultural child-rearing activities due to the region's varied tribal and ethnic populations which in some or the other way affect the nutritional status among children in early ages. An attempt has been made to assess the prevalence and determine the risk of underweight among children in northeast region in India.MethodsThe present study is based on a publicly available National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015-16 data. Multilevel random intercept model approach has been used to investigate the impact of independent variables at different social hierarchical levels on the underweight status in the study population.ResultsChildren whose mother's level of education was no education or primary were 1.13 and 1.34 times more likely to be underweight respectively than those with secondary or higher level of education. The risk of being underweight were 2.4 times higher among children of 4 years of age compared to those with age less than 1 year. Poorest wealth quintile had 2.45 times higher chance of being underweight.ConclusionStudy suggests that education of mother’s education, child's sex, age, type of residence, social status, and household’s wealth index affect the underweight among children. Hence, to combat the situation in northeast states, policymakers must make policies with a strong reliance on communities with a higher prevalence and risk.