Background: Body proportional indices enable the assessment of nutritional status and provides the critical insights into an individual’s overall health status. It also aids in identifying the risk of developing various non-communicable health disorders like Obesity, Hypertension, Type -II Diabetes, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.
Objectives of the Study: Present cross-sectional study is an attempt to analyse age wise trend in the nutritional status of male children and adolescents of district Sri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 560 males categorised into 14 age groups (5 to 18 years) and measured anthropometrically for standing height, body weight, waist and hip circumferences following the standard protocol. Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR) and Waist Height Ratio (WHtR) indices were calculated using standard formulas.
Results: It has been observed that the average Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) and Waist Height Ratio (WHtR) at 5 years age group is 14.1 kg/m2, 0.90 and 0.44, respectively. Thereafter increasing trend with slight fluctuations has been found in mean values of BMI and almost decreasing trend with slight fluctuations has been observed in mean values of WHR and WHt.R in the age groups of 6 years to 18 years. Using the WHO (2000) criteria of BMI for age classification it is found that maximum number of the subjects falling in the Underweight category belongs to 8 years (65%), Healthy weight category belongs to 7 years and 13 years age groups (60%) age groups, Overweight category belongs to 18 years (20%) age group and Obese category belongs to 8 years (10%) age group.
Conclusion:The overall findings showcase that majority of the males of district Sri Muktsar Sahib falls under the healthy category of BMI but there is very small gap exist when compared with under-weight category and are below the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Variations observed at different age groups attributed to the socio-economic status of family, environmental exposure, physical activity, life style and food habits, geographical location and genetic make-up which may be responsible to bring out ethnic differences in body proportions during the childhood growth process.