Abstract

Background: Morbidity and mortality of under-five children is an important indicator of overall development of the country. The problems of malnutrition among under-five children can be used to determine the need for nutritional surveillance, nutritional care, or appropriate nutritional intervention programs in a community. Objectives: (1) The objective of this study was to study sociodemographic factors related to morbidity in under-fives, (2) To study the nutritional status of under-fives admitted in hospital, (3) To study morbidity pattern of admitted under-fives, and (4) To study the immunization status of under-fives.
Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study. All children st st below 5 years of age admitted in pediatric ward of government tertiary care hospital from 1 November 2015 to 31 January 2016 were included in the study. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0. Chi-square test of significance was applied. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: In the present study, maximum number of under-fives were males (60%) and belong to 0–12 months age group (44.5%). Maximum number of children were from rural areas (56.5%) belongs to Hindu family (66.55%). Maximum mothers of children were illiterate (60%) and fathers studied up to secondary school (57.5%). Maximum number of under-fives were suffering from respiratory tract infection (RTI) (males-42.5% and females-32.5%). Nearly 60% were completely immunized. 31% were underweight, 33.5% were stunted and 21% were wasted among males which were maximum as compared to females. In study, 79% of children were found malnourished. 33.5% were partially immunized and common morbidity found among under-fives were RTI. Conclusion: Major interventions needed to improve overall health status of thse under-5 children at all health-care level. Further studies should be carried out to assess the impact of health education..