A Study to Assess the Prevalence of Malnutrition & its Association with Dental Caries among Pre-schoolers at Selected Anganwadies of Vadodara City Kadiwala Aadil I1, Hun Varsha2, Patel Ekta2 1M. Sc. Nursing, Community Health Nursing, Sumandeep Nursing College, Sumandeep Vidhyapeeth, Vadodara, Gujarat, India 2Assistant Professor, Community Health Nursing, Sumandeep Nursing College, Sumandeep Vidhyapeeth, Vadodara, Gujarat, India Online published on 21 November, 2019. Abstract Background of the Study Nutrition is an input to and a foundation for health and development. Brawler et al. (2009) stated that the interaction of infection and malnutrition is well-documented. Better nutrition means stronger immune system. In this research descriptive approach with non-experimental research design is used, data is collected from the sample who were attending the selected anganwadies such as Parsuram sayajiganj, Rampura akota, Govardhan ni haveli. Objectives of the Study To assess the prevalence of malnutrition among pre-schoolers at selected anganwadies of Vadodara city. To assess the prevalence of dental caries among pre-schoolers at selected anganwadies of Vadodara city. To find out correlation between malnutrition and dental caries among pre-schoolers at selected anganwadies of Vadodara city. To find out the association between malnutrition and with selected demographic variables among preschoolers at selected anganwadies of Vadodara city.
Material & Method In this research study a quantitative research approach with non-experimental descriptive survey research design is used. The sampling techniques was non probability convenient sampling is used to collect the 80 samples of pre-schooler children and data collection done by assessment of anthropometric measurement. Data is analyzed by using descriptive and interferential statistics such as median, frequencies and chi-square test. Result With regards to the assessment, out of 80 pre-schooler children 59 (73.8%) had grade-I malnutrition, 12 (15%) had grade-II malnutrition, 9 (11.3%) had grade-III malnutrition and 80 pre-schoolers, and 10 had dental caries. Researcher found that there is no significant association between malnutrition with selected demographic variables except, the child having illness in the last month hence, hypothesis H2 is rejected. The observed r value is + 0.79 that means there is a positive correlation between dental caries and malnutrition, Hence, H1 is accepted. Discussion and Conclusion The purpose of the study is to assess the prevalence of malnutrition and its association with dental caries among pre-schoolers at selected anganwadies of Vadodara city. The findings of the study concluded that there is significant correlation between malnutrition and dental caries. Most of the pre-schooler having grade-I malnutrition and few pre-schooler had dental caries. Top Keywords Malnutrition, dental-caries, anthropometric assessment, pre-schoolers, anganwadies. Top |