Estado nutricional de niños en colegios privados y en zonas suburbanas de los Municipios Baruta y el Hatillo de Caracas.

The anthropometric indicators are useful to value the state of health and nutrition of children, allowing to measure in indirect way the quality of life of a population. Prevalences of Anthropometric Nutritional State of children from private schools of Caracas and from suburban zones of Baruta and the Hatillo were analyzed. 1009 children were evaluated (640 from private schools and 369 children from suburban zones). Age and sex were considered and height and weight were measured. Traditional anthropometric indicators were constructed: weight-height (WH), height-age (HA) and weight-age (WA). They were classified into three categories: under average (<p10), average (p10-p90) and on average (>p90). The proportions of subjects classified into each category for each indicator were obtained. The statistical significance differences between the prevalences were determined by using an X² test. The results indicated statistically significant differences (p<0.001) between the nutritional status prevalences between children of private schools and those of suburban zones for all the indicators. Those from private schools showed a greater proportion of values over the average (WH 20,3%, HA 45,3%, WA 37,7%) in comparison with those from suburban zones (WH 8,4%, HA 16%, WA 11,4%). Children from suburban zones showed the greater proportion of under average values. Results demonstrate that the socio-economic level of the family has an influence on the nutritional status of the children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]