Nutritional status of Households using Anthropometric Measurements in North West region, Cameroon.

ABSTRACT

This study examined the nutritional status of rural households using anthropometric measurements in North West Region of Cameroon. Twenty –two rural and 106 urban households were randomly selected for anthropometric studies... Anthropometric indices of respondents 6 months - 60 years from urban and rural households were obtained using standard procedures. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze collected data and significance at p<0.05 accepted. Data obtained and analyzed showed that stunting was the most prevalent form of malnutrition in the study, followed by underweight and wasting. Overweight and obesity in the urban households was 6.32% and 2.37% respectively while overweight and obesity in the rural households was 7.69% and 4.48% respectively. Mild (12.59% and 12.50%) and severe (8.66% and 8.33%) malnutrition were similar in urban and rural households respectively. Increased Risk of Metabolic Complication was 28.68% in the urban and 23.63% in rural households while Substantially Increased Risk of Metabolic Complication was 31.78% in the urban and 28.07% in the rural households.

Keywords: Nutritional status, anthropometric measurements, household