Table 9.
Prevalence of under-nutrition relative to the international growth references among Pakistani primary school children aged five to twelve years
| Reference | Stunting < -2 SD height-for-age z score |
Underweight < -2 SD weight-for-age z score |
Thinness/Wasting < -2 SD BMI-for-age z score |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | P valuea | n (%) | P valuea | n (%) | P valuea | |
| Boys (n = 977) | ||||||
| WHO 2007 | 84 (8.6) | 0.146 | 69 (7.1)b | < 0.001 | 99 (10.1) | < 0.001 |
| USCDC 2000 | 90 (9.2) | 126 (12.9) | 125 (12.8) | |||
| IOTFc | - | - | 36 (3.7)d | < 0.001g | ||
| 45 (4.6)e | < 0.001h | |||||
| 180 (18.4)f | ||||||
| Girls (n = 883) | ||||||
| WHO 2007 | 68 (7.7) | 0.774 | 56 (6.3)i | < 0.001 | 89 (10.1) | < 0.001 |
| USCDC 2000 | 70 (7.9) | 104 (11.8) | 119 (13.5) | |||
| IOTFc | - | - | 31 (3.5)d | < 0.001g | ||
| 70 (7.9)e | 0.003h | |||||
| 166 (18.8)f | ||||||
| Total (n = 1860) | ||||||
| WHO 2007 | 152 (8.2) | 0.169 | 125 (6.7)j | < 0.001 | 188 (10.1) | < 0.001 |
| USCDC 2000 | 160 (8.6) | 230 (12.4) | 244 (13.1) | |||
| IOTFc | - | - | 67 (3.6)d | < 0.001g | ||
| 115 (6.2)e | < 0.001h | |||||
| 346 (18.6)f | ||||||
a P values are for difference between the estimates by the WHO 2007 and USCDC 2000 references obtained by the McNemar test
b n = 747 (boys aged five to ten years) for underweight prevalence with the WHO 2007 reference
c IOTF estimates are based on cut-offs corresponding to the respective BMI cut-off value at age 18 years and above
d Thinness grade three,e Thinness grade two, andf Thinness grade one
g grade one thinness compared to the WHO 2007 reference,h grade one thinness compared to the USCDC 2000 reference
i n = 699 (girls aged five to ten years), andj n = 1446 (children aged five to ten years) for underweight prevalence with the WHO 2007 reference