WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Dr. Prasanta Deb*

ABSTRACT

Background: Tribal communities in India are considered as underprivileged. Anthropometric parameters and physiological variables are considered to be the independent variables upon which the dependent variable the nutritional status was based. Respiratory disorders are major group of illness affecting children especially in India and are the important causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to October 2020 in Tripura to assess the relationship between nutritional status and pulmonary functions in tribal and non-tribal school children. Data were collected randomly from 8 high schools and 9 higher secondary schools were selected at random. Altogether 256 Tripuri children and 256 Bengali children aged 8-15 years were included in the study. Socio-economic status and different anthropometric measures and indices were applied for evaluating the nutritional status of the subjects and association between socio-economic status, nutritional status and physiological health status were determined. Results: The present study however showed that most of the respondents were from low and middle income group. Higher degree of stunting was found in Tripuri boys compared to Bengali boys. 52.13 % of Tripuri boys and 64.65 % of Bengali boys were underweight. Malnourished children showed lower values in height (P<0.001) and weight (P<0.001) in both tribal and non tribal counterparts. FVC, FEV1 and PEFR showed significantly (P<0.001) lower values when compared between malnourished and normal children in both tribal and non tribal communities. Conclusions: The study revealed a lack of adequate nutritional knowledge among the parents as a result the vital period of growth was greatly affected by poor nutrition. The study confirms that undernutrition along with muscle wasting diminished skeletal growth is a reason for reduced lung functions.