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Introduction: In India, 6.8% of total population are under five children and 60 million are malnourished. Around 45% of deaths among children under five years are linked to under nutrition. The study aims to as-sess the nutritional status of under 5 children and associate it with various factors like age, gender, Immuniza-tion, birth weight, feeding practices, Anganwadi registration etc. Methodology: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted on 191 under five children in urban slum areas. Parents of under five children were interviewed with the help of a pre-designed questionnaire. Malnutrition was assessed using WHO recommended Z score category.Observations: Total 191 under 5 children were studied. Among them, 107 were male and 84 were female. Out of the assessed children two third were normal weight for age while one third were underweight. Nutri-tion status was significantly associated with age, birth weight, feeding practices and immunization status of children. Conclusions & Recommendations: One fourth of under-five children were under weight for age. Age, low birth weight, preterm delivery, faulty feeding practices and incomplete immunization were statistically signif-icantly associated with the underweight.
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Currently under- and over-nutrition are public health problems in Indian children. A community-based study in 3249 children was undertaken to assess the magnitude of intra-family differences in nutritional status between pre-school and school age children from urban low middle income families. Length/height and weight were measured; nutritional status was computed using WHO Anthro and Anthro Plus software. One-fourth of children were stunted, 1/5th underweight, 1/10th wasted and less than 5% were overweight. Prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting was higher in children whose elder siblings were stunted, underweight or wasted. However, majority of the younger siblings of under-nourished elder siblings were normally nourished; majority of the elder siblings of undernourished younger sibling were normally nourished. In view of this, it is essential to screen all children, identify those who are under- or overnourished using BMI-for-age and provide appropriate interventions.
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Ayurveda emphasize prevention over cure. A balanced diet with proper dietetic rule can help avoid a lot of common health concerns. The source of life for all living beings is food, growth, strength, intelligence, satisfaction, all are established in food. Food is significant as a nutritional source, as well as having therapeutic value, and it plays an important part in regaining strength lost due to the disease's detrimental effects throughout the post-treatment phase and also excess exercise, or addiction too. Ayurveda classic haphazardly explain nutritional issues. Each and every disease is due to faulty Ahara and Vihara. Ahara vidhi is equally important to get optimum benefits from consumed food. Childhood malnutrition is thought to be the cause of 35% of all fatalities in children under the age of five, as well as 21% of total worldwide disability-adjusted life years lost in children. Karshya not only concerns with weight loss, but also compares with malnutrition-like disorders. In Ayurveda, Karshya is a disease as well as cause, prodromal symptoms, feature of different diseases and bad prognostic sign. Karsha is also a physiological in Vataja prakriti individual. This illness is linked to growth and development issues in children and adolescence group. In adults, malnutrition results in weakness, fatigue, low immune response, protein, vitamin, minerals, fats deficiencies, and more prone to degenerative diseases. The aim of this review article is highlighted the Ayurvedic perspective on Karsha in term of malnutrition. All material for this article is collected from classical Ayurvedic texts. Understanding the cause and pathophysiology and accurate treatment as per Ayurved classics all are discussed here elaborately
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Background: Malnutrition in under five children is prevalent widely. It affects growth as well as development; also causes higher morbidity and mortality among children significantly. This public health problem is multi-factorial. Aim and Objectives: This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of under nutrition and its risk factors among children up to 2 years of age attending a tertiary health care institution of Kolkata. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among children aged 0 � 23 months, attending the Immunization clinic of CMSDH, Kolkata, during December, 2019 朖anuary, 2020. Data were collected by interviewing the accompanying caregivers, anthropometric measurements of the study subjects and review of records. Results: Among 135 children studied, the prevalence of stunting was 14.1% (5.8% severely stunted), underweight was 9.7% (3.8% severely underweight), wasting was 18.5% (8.1% were SAM).Younger age group (0-6 months),boys and children having inappropriate feeding for age were at increased risk of under nutrition. Children having working mothers, birth spacing of <3 years, LBW and delayed initiation of breastfeeding (>1hour) were at higher risk of stunting and underweight. Incorrect age of introduction of complementary feeding had higher risk of wasting. Conclusion: Several risk factors for malnutrition were found which are amenable to prevention.
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Background: Malnutrition is a silent emergency. Malnutrition prevents children from reaching their full physical and mental potential. The health of children and youth is of fundamental importance. Without ensuring optimal child growth and development efforts to accelerate economic development significantly will be unsuccessful. Aim of the study was to study the prevalence of undernutrtion among the children under 6 years of age and to determine association of sociodemogrphic factors with undernutrition. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in children of under 6 years age living in the rural field practice area of Department of Community Medicine IIMSR, Warudi, Jalna, from January 2018 to December 2018. One ninety eight children were studied for nutritional status, socio-demographic measures were obtained from structured questionnaire and followed by anthropometric assessment using standards methods. Statistical analysis was done by using appropriate statistical test.Results: Study found that 44.79% children were underweight, 47.92% were stunted and 39.58% were wasted. Among sociodemographic factors age, maternal educational, working status and SES class had an impact on nutritional status of child.Conclusions: Prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting was high in this study, this calls for educating mothers and other caretakers in the family regarding increased nutritional requirements with increasing age for attainment of best possible nutrition and growth in children, targeted short-term strategies addressing underlying risk factors and more long-term poverty alleviation strategies may be needed.
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The Participatory Approach for Nutrition in Children: Strengthening Health, Education, Engineering and Environment Linkages(PANChSHEEEL) project is a collaboration between University College London, Save the Children India, Jawaharlal Nehru Universityand Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to develop a socio-culturally appropriate, tailored, integrated and interdisciplinary intervention inrural India and test its acceptability for delivery through Anganwadi Centre (AWCs) and schools. Recognizing the socio-ecologicaldeterminants of under-nutrition, the POSHAN Abhiyan (POSHAN Mission) adopts a multi-sectoral approach to achieve five goals, ofwhich two are directly related to children. The POSHAN Abhiyan resonates with the conceptual framework of the PANChSHEEEL study inits interdisciplinary scope and focus on local linka ges. This paper draws upon empirical evidence from the PANChSHEEEL Project inBanswara (one of the POSHAN mission districts), Rajasthan to help understand linkages between policy and practice, specifically thechallenges of operationalizing ‘convergence’, the core strategy of the Abhiyan.
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Background: Malnutrition is silent emergency and it is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children in India. India is home for underweight children. Hence the present study attempt to assess the underweight status of 0-5 years children and to find out socio-demographic determinant with it in rural community of Maharashtra.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 281 children aged 0-5 years. The study was conducted rural health training centre, Barshi Takali district Akola which is field practicing area of Community Medicine Department of Government Medical College, Akola. The data was analyzed using Epi-info-6.Results: 24.9% children were in the age group of 24-35 months. 33.8% fathers were educated up to high secondary 21%. Under five children were underweight. The proportion of under-five children with under-weight showed significant association with education of father, breast feeding and diarrhoea.Conclusions: Father education, breast feeding practices and diarrhoea were the important determinant for underweight that were found in the study. The information education and communication (IEC) is needed to for preventing the occurrence of under-nutrition among 0-5 years children.
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Background: Under nutrition is one of the most imperative problems among children that needed to be addressed in the realm of public health. Undernourished children cannot maintain natural biological abilities, such as growth, recuperating from ailments, learning and physical development. Poor feeding practices along with illnesses like diarrhoea, pneumonia, helminthic infections etc. are major determinants of under nutrition in India. The tribal populations in India are identified to be the autochthonous people of the land thereby being one of the major sufferers of under nutrition. This study aimed at finding out the prevalence of under nutrition among under-five children in tribal population in Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu. Methods: This community based cross-sectional analytical study was done among Malayali Tribes population of Puthur village, Pachamalai Hills, Trichy to determine the prevalence of under-nutrition using CIAF and WHO Z scoring system and its risk factors by multivariate analysis. Results: Out of 100 children, about 85% were undernourished as per CIAF criteria. In the Multivariate analysis, children of employed mother and children who were not given exclusive breast feeding were associated with Under nutrition which was statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusions: CIAF could be considered as a better measure than any other single index to identify the problem in the community. The study also emphasizes the significance of proper IYCF practices among employed mothers and improvement of MCH services in Tribal population during antenatal and immediate postnatal period to bring down the prevalence of under nutrition.
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Aims: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and determinants of malnutrition in under five children in selected health facilities in Egume, Dekina LGA, Kogi State. Study Design: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study with historic data that assessed the Prevalence and determinants of malnutrition of under-five children in selected health facilities in Egume Dekina Local Government Area, Kogi State. Study Area: The study was conducted at General Hospital and St. Luke clinic in Egume, Dekina LGA, Kogi State. Methodology: The study focused on Mothers and their under five children who were treated as in- or out- patients at the General Hospital and St. luke clinic Egume within the past five years, Interview was conducted with the aid of a validated, questionnaire, after obtaining informed consent from mothers and ethical clearance from the Health Research Ethics Committee, Kogi State Ministry of Health. Data was obtained through reviews of available health records. Anthropometric measurement was carried out following standard procedures. Results: The study showed that 21.3%, 25.6%, 47.4% and 5.7% of the sampled children were mildly undernourished, moderately undernourished, severely undernourished and healthy respectively. Conclusion: The present study further revealed that a child’s age and gender, mother’s education and nutrition and other health variables such as clean water and toilet are determinants of child malnutrition.
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Introduction: Malnutrition among children below 5 years hasserious long-term consequences. Three out of every 10 stuntedchildren in the world are in India. The objective of the studywas to assess malnutrition among under five years children ina rural community.Material and Methods: A community based cross-sectionalstudy was undertaken to assess the nutritional status ofchildren below 5 years by anthropometry. Weight for age,height for age and weight for height was calculated usingWHO growth standards.Results: The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wastingin the study population 18.3%, 31.6% and 20.1% respectively.Proportion of moderate and severe underweight and wastingwas highest in the age group of 11-23 months while proportionof moderate and severe stunting was highest in the age groupof 48-59 months.Conclusions: Malnutrition is a common problem in childrenbelow 5 years of age, especially chronic malnutrition
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Background: Initial years of life are crucial for child growth and development.' Breast feeding for first six months of life, followed by adequate complimentary feeding is necessary for preventing malnutrition and its complication in children. This study accessed the complementary feeding practice and the time of initiation of complementary feeding among infants.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted for 3 weeks, among 92 infants. Details of feeding practice were taken from the parents from semi-structured questionnaire and nutritional status was evaluated by anthropometric assessment tools.Results: Ninety-two mothers were interviewed, and their corresponding infants were evaluated. The mean age of infant was 8.8 months with equal proportion of male and female. The mean age of mother interviewed was 26.6 yrs. 59.8% had timely initiation of complimentary feeding. Timely complimentary feeding was directly related to maternal literacy where literate mother follows the practices of appropriate complimentary feeding (p<0.007). There was significant association between ethnicity and timely initiation of complimentary feeding practices. 78.2 % babies who had timely initiation were of higher ethnicity. Overall in our cohort 18.4% were stunted, 14.1% were wasted. The stunted and wasted child were significantly more in whom there was absence of timely initiation of complimentary feeding (p<0.05).Conclusions: Proper complimentary feeding is still lagging in our society, proper parental education and nutritional counselling will be required to prevent under nutrition in infants.
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Background: Under nutrition is important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. In India burden of underweight children in under 5 years of age is still 35.7% (NFHS-4) and is 22% in Punjab which is still considered to be a major public health problem. Thus this study was planned to find prevalence and risk factors of under nutrition in under 3 children in urban Ludhiana.Methods: It is community based cross-sectional study conducted in under 3 year children in field practice area of Urban Health Centre under Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana. Minimum sample size of 368 was calculated. Data was collected from routine surveillance by ANMs in their visits to area. Under nutrition was taken as weight for age as per standard growth chart used in India (WHO based). Statistical analysis: Microsoft Excel, Chi square test, SPSS.Results: Out of 387 children, 82 (21.2%) were underweight [17 (4.4%) severely and 65 (16.8%) moderately underweight]. Increasing age, partial immunization, low birth weight and high birth order were significantly associated, while gender, type of family, SES, mother’s BMI & literacy and exclusive breast feeding were not significantly associated with prevalence of underweight.Conclusions: Increasing age, partial immunization, low birth weight and high birth order were all significantly associated with underweight. Maternal and child health services need to be strengthened
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This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in an urban slum in Thane, Maharashtra, India. Women (n=64) with self-reported morbidity and symptomatic children (40 girls and 36 boys) were clinically examined and treated using the “camp approach”. The mean age of girls, boys, and women was 6.04 +/- 4.08 years, 4.49 +/- 2.88 years, and 34.52 +/- 10.01 years, respectively. The health problems in the examined children included upper respiratory infections, fever, loss of appetite, eye and ear-related problems and diarrhoea. out of the 51 under-five children examined, 72.55% were undernourished. Among women, reproductive health problems, anaemia, and musculoskeletal disorders predominated. Specific nutrition and health interventions for under-five children are necessary to combat under-nutrition, while community-based educational interventions for women would help overcome the social taboos attached to reproductive health problems.
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Background: A child’s entire life is determined in large measures by food intake during the growing age. Since childhood is the most vulnerable phase in the life of human being, nutritional inadequacies will result in hampering of growth as well as development of body. Future of the Country is determined by the growing generation. Methods: Total number of children aged 1-10 years is 1232 that attended Pediatrics out – patient department in the year 2013-14. The entire children aged 1-10 years were included in the study. Parents or/and guardians of the children were informed about the study. Weight of the children was measured using a portable weighing machine. Grading of nutritional status among 1-10 years old children was assessed by computing weight-for-age according to Indian Academy of Pediatrics classification. Results: Prevalence of under-nutrition (<80 percentage of standard weight-for-age) was 62.26%. The normal were 37.74%. The prevalence of Grade I malnourished was 29.30%, Grade II 19.49%, Grade III 9.25% and that of Grade IV was 4.22%. Prevalence of under-nutrition was higher among male (32.63%) than of female (29.62%) children. Conclusions: Nutritional status of children has been recognized as an important of National development which in turn depends on social development indices. Though the country is developing fast with wide availability of resources and food we still notice under-nourishment. Health education to the parents, especially to the mothers on dietary practices like feeding their children with healthy food in terms of quality and quantity should be given. Nutritional rehabilitation centre should be established which will guide the parents in regard to the nutrition of child to be maintain at particular growing age group. The finding of prevalence of under-nutrition in males is unique in Indian context where females are prone to get neglected and sex wise prevalence of under nutrition was usually higher in females as compared to males.
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Background: Child health indicators in developing countries show that there is still a long way to go to improve child health. Majority of the causes of mortality and morbidity in this ‘under 5’ age group are preventable through existing interventions. This study aims to identify the prevalence of under nutrition and the associated risk factors to improve the health status of children and the quality of life in rural India. The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence of under-nutrition among children less than 5 years in a rural area and to find out the association between under nutrition and certain socio-economic, demographic, and environmental factors among children less than 5 years in a rural area. Methods: Children less than 5 years of age were listed from the family register in the sub-centres and were selected by simple random sampling method. Limit of accuracy was taken as 12 % of prevalence and Z (1-α/2) value of 1.96. 5% of the sample was added to take care of non-response and the final sample size was calculated as 370. Results: Based on WHO classification 2006 (weight for age), 46% of the children were normally nourished. Among the malnourished children, 37.6% were mildly under-nourished, 12.2% were moderately under-nourished and the remaining 4.3 % were severely under-nourished. Children born with a low birth weight, children who were not exclusively breastfed, birth spacing of <18 months, children living in overcrowded houses were at a significantly higher risk of being under-nourished. Children who had more than 3 episodes of ARI in the past one year were also at a risk of under nutrition. Conclusions: The high Prevalence of under-nutrition could be due to low birth weight, spacing of pregnancy less than 18 months, non –exclusive breast feeding, delayed weaning, recurrent respiratory infections and poor housing conditions. Better maternal care, exclusive breastfeeding, proper weaning and improvement in standard of living in rural area will reduce the problem of under nutrition among children less than 5 years.Methods: The present retrospective study was conducted on the patients who were referred to the Department of Radio diagnosis for DEXA scan were selected. Eighty 50-80 years old men who attended various departments were included. BMI was measured as weight in kilograms by height in meters square. BMD was assessed by DEXA scan. Results: Eighty men in the age group of 50-80 (62.46 ± 7.63) years were included in the study. All men underwent a standard BMD scans of femoral neck and lumbar vertebrae (L2-L4) using a DEXA scan. BMI (28.1 ± 4.93) kg/m2 shows a highly significant positive correlation with BMD (171 ± -1.76 ± 1.71) SD, r = 0.53 p<0.01. Conclusions: The results suggest lower BMI is an important risk factor for the occurrence of low BMD. BMD can be used for screening test for osteoporosis.
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Tribals are the most marginalised social category in the country and there is little and scattered information on the actual burden and pattern of illnesses they suffer from. This study provides information on burden and pattern of diseases among tribals, and whether these can be linked to their nutritional status, especially in particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG) seen at a community health programme being run in the tribal areas of chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh States of India. This community based programme, known as Jan Swasthya Sahyog (JSS) has been serving people in over 2500 villages in rural central India. It was found that the tribals had significantly higher proportion of all tuberculosis, sputum positive tuberculosis, severe hypertension, illnesses that require major surgery as a primary therapeutic intervention and cancers than non tribals. The proportions of people with rheumatic heart disease, sickle cell disease and epilepsy were not significantly different between different social groups. Nutritional levels of tribals were poor. Tribals in central India suffer a disproportionate burden of both communicable and non communicable diseases amidst worrisome levels of undernutrition. There is a need for universal health coverage with preferential care for the tribals, especially those belonging to the PVTG. Further, the high level of undernutrition demands a more augmented and universal Public Distribution System.
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Background: Globally, each year malnutrition is implicated in about 40% of the 11 million deaths of under-five children in developing countries. Under nutrition is still the major problem in our country especially in underserved areas such as urban slums and rural areas. So we undertook this study to assess the factors associated with malnutrition and risk of infections among malnourished children. Methods: Study design: Analytical cross-sectional study. Duration: January 2013 - December 2013 (1 year). 182 malnourished children admitted to department of paediatrics during the study period. Prestructured-pre tested closed ended questionnaire was used to collect the data. The parents were interviewed; case sheets and other records were searched to get the necessary information. Results: The study was conducted among 182 under nourished children who admitted to department of paediatrics, in the calendar of 2013. Out of 182 children, 80 (43.96%) were boys and 102 (56.04%) were girls. More than 2/3rd (68.6%) under nourished children were in the age group of 0-3 years. Most common co-morbidity found was respiratory tract infection (44%) followed by acute gastro enteritis (22.5%) and fever (Pyrexia of unknown origine-22.5%). Conclusion: Children of relatively younger age, from rural areas and girls are the common victims of malnutrition. Respiratory tract infections and acute gastro-enteritis were the common co-morbid conditions found among malnourished children. Nutrition education has to be imparted to the people regarding consumption of cost effective nutritious diet (Emphasize it in Village health and Nutrition day).
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Objective: PEM is a significant nutritional disorder in India. The aim of this study was to assess the severity of the disorder and make a quick nutritional assessment in the patients using serum albumin, total cholesterol and lymphocyte count as the laboratory parameters. The study also aimed at correlating these biochemical parameters with physical parameters. Materials and Methods: 42 clinically undernourished children in the age group of 2-5yrs were enrolled for the study. Their age and body weight were noted and the subjects were accordingly grouped under Grade 1, 2 or 3 malnutrition as per Gomez’ classification. Serum Albumin, total lymphocyte count and total cholesterol values of these cases were noted. Depending on the values obtained, the subjects were grouped into 3 categories – mild, moderate and severe malnutrition. Physicalparameters were correlated with the biochemical parameters. Results: Pearson’s correlation test results showed a significant positive correlation between Grade 1&mild malnutrition; Grade 2&moderate malnutrition; and Grade III & severe malnutrition. Conclusion: We conclude that serum albumin, cholesterol and total lymphocyte count correlate significantly with physical parameters. They are reliable parameters that can be used not only to assess severity of undernutrition but they also provide more informationabout the nutritional status such as protein and lipid reserves in the body and immune status of the individual.
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El estado de nutrición y salud en los niños incide directamente en su aprendizaje y rendimiento escolar. Consiste de una intervención educativa en alimentación y nutrición en unidades educativas (UE) periurbanas pobres, orientada a desarrollar y fortalecer capacidades en docentes, alumnos y sus familias, que contribuyan a mejorar la alimentación, la nutrición y la salud. Se seleccionaron cinco UE: Zulia, Mérida y Caracas (n=6333 niños y niñas), que forman parte del programa de responsabilidad social empresarial de una empresa en alianza con Fundación Bengoa. Se intervino en educación nutricional, servicio de alimentación, formación para la participación y vigilancia nutricional. Nutricionistas y/ chef, dictaron 43 talleres de educación en nutrición (1291 docentes, padres, madres y miembros de la comunidad). Talleres de higiene y manipulación de alimentos, gerencia del servicio de alimentación y menú (379 madres colaboradoras y personal UE). Se formaron 594 personas (Identificación de la realidad social, diseño de planes conjuntos, participación y voluntariado y emprendedores). Se conformó el grupo de niños voluntarios Amigos de la Buena Alimentación (ABA). El desayuno saludable (30% kcal/día) incorporó vegetales y frutas. Entre 2008 y 2012 el porcentaje de sobrepeso (IMC) se redujo de 20,1% a 18,7% y el déficit se mantuvo entre 16,2% a 16,9%. Se confirma la importancia de un programa de educación nutricional que incluye desayuno, para mejorar conocimientos, hábitos alimentarios y la permanencia del niño en la escuela. La participación y el compromiso de los involucrados, es indispensable para el éxito de programas comunitarios en consonancia con su realidad cultural y socioeconómica(AU)
Nutrition and health status in children influence directly their learning and schooling. This program consists in the intervention of food and nutrition knowledge in poor suburban schools, oriented to develop and strengthen capacities in teachers, students and their families, as a contribution to upgrade health and nutrition. Five schools were selected in Zulia, Merida and Caracas (6333 boys and girls) that formed part of a program of social responsibility of a private company in alliance with Fundación Bengoa. Intervention included nutrition education, nutrition surveillance, food services and community participation. Nutritionists and a chef gave 43 nutrition education workshops (1291 teachers, parents and members of the community) food handling and food service management as well as menu planning workshops (379 mothers and teachers). In the field of planning and designing joint ventures, entrepreneurs and voluntary work formation, 595 personas were formed. A group of children called Friends of Healthy Eating was formed. The healthy breakfast (30% kcal/day) included vegetables and fruits. Between 2008 and 20012, overweight (high BMI) diminished from 20.1% to 18.7% although under nutrition remained 16.2-16.9%. The importance of a program of nutrition education that includes breakfast for a better understanding and healthy eating habits as well as to guarantee the child´s permanence at school was confirmed. Participation and the commitment of all involved is indispensable for the success of community programs as part of its cultural an socioeconomic reality(AU)
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Humans , Male , Female , Eating , Child Health , Growth and Development , Food Assistance , Child Nutrition , Diet, Food, and NutritionABSTRACT
Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have increased worldwide equally burdening people from different ethnic and socio-economic groups. Hypertension is an eminent modifiable risk factor for CVD and relates to body adiposity, which can be evaluated by various anthropometric measurements. Objective: The present study reports prevalence of under nutrition and hypertension, potential predictors of hypertension and new cutoff values for various disease associated adiposity markers in six tribal populations inhabiting different states in India. Methods: Cross sectional sample of 910 adult males aged 46.98 ±17.17 years was studied. Anthropometric measurement (height, body weight, body circumferences, skinfold thicknesses), blood pressure and socio-demographic characteristics were ascertained. General and regional adiposity indices, muscle diameter and fat % were derived. Descriptive, multivariate regression analyses were performed. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) was used to determine optimal cutoffs values. Results: Underweight (45.3%) and hypertension [Systolic blood pressure (SBP) - 15.2%, Diastolic blood pressure (DBP)-25.5%] co-exist increasing the morbidity in the tribal population under study. General adiposity measures were better predictors of hypertension. Body mass index (BMI), fat% (negatively associated), age and mid upper arm circumference (positively associated) were independent risk factor for hypertension. Out of all reported cut offs, the new BMI cutoff values (20.12 kg/m2 and 18.98 kg/m2) and for mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) (21.44cm and 21.95cm) for predicting SBP and DBP respectively corresponding nearly to earlier reported standards by World health Organization (WHO). Conclusion: The inverse association of general adiposity markers with blood pressure among the present subjects indicates that CVD is not only prevalent among the affluents but is also affecting the socio-economically and nutritionally deprived groups. Population specific cutoffs for the anthropometric markers are needed to identify individuals with different body compositions at risk. Long term treatment expenses and health burden further depletes the limited economic resources of these vulnerable groups creating a vicious cycle of CVD and under nutrition.