Abstract

Objectives: 1-To study the prevalence of protein energy malnutrition (PEM) in under five children (1-5 years age) in relation to some of the maternal factors

Study Design: A cross-sectional study

Study Settings: Deptt. Of PSM, I.M.S., B.H.U., Varanasi

Study  Subject: 400 children of under five age group (1-5years) of urban field practice area (Sunderpur  community)

Study Period: July1999 to July 2000

Result: In the present study prevalence of PEM was 63.3% by ’weight for age’ criteria using IAP classification. it was found that prevalence of PEM in the study area was observed to goes on increasing with increase in age of the mother up to the age of 30 years however the prevalence of PEM was unexpectedly low in mothers beyond the age of 30 years. These differences were not significant.

There were significant difference in prevalence of PEM was found to be 69.9% in children whose mothers were illiterate, as compared to children whose mothers were literate (57.5%).  The maternal factor of parity showed that prevalence of PEM increased with increase in parity but the differences were not significant. In our study, no clear-cut relationship could be seen between birth interval and prevalence of PEM. The difference in mean birth interval in PEM and non PEM group was not significant (t = 0.29, P >0.30). 

Keywords: Maternal factors.