Nutritional status of children in the health district of Cusco, Peru

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Abstract
This study was conducted to obtain an accurate assessment of the nutritional status of the children in the Cusco, Peru Health District. It is a sample survey of anthropometric measures for 3,383 children under the age of 10 yr. The results showed a significant decline in nutritional status with age (96.88% normal range at ages 1–3 mo to only 37.43% normal at ages 12–24 mo) followed by a gradual improvement in the children above 2 yr (∼50% normal). The deficits at the older ages were principally due to low weights-for-age. Nutritional status was also dependent on sex, village altitude, remoteness, and population size (p < 0.005). Of these, only sex interacted with age. The girls did significantly better at some ages and the boys better, but not significantly so, at other ages.

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