Nutritional Status and Intestinal Parasite in School Age Children: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

Background. The objectives of this study were to determine the burden of underweight and intestinal parasitic infection in the urban and rural elementary school children. Methods. A comparative cross-sectional study design was conducted. Binary logistic regression was used to identify the determinants of malnutrition or intestinal parasites. Two independent samples' t-test was used to identify the effect of malnutrition on school performance or hemoglobin level. Results. A total of 2372 students were included. Quarters (24.8%) of school children were underweight. Underweight was associated with sex [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.61; 95% CI = 0.47-0.78], age [AOR = 0.21; 95% CI = 0.16-0.28], intestinal parasitic infection [AOR 2.67; 95% CI = 2-3.55], and family size [AOR 23; 95% CI = 17.67-30.02]. The prevalence of intestinal parasite among school children was 61.7% [95% CI = 60%-64%]. Shoe wearing practice [AOR 0.71; 95% CI = 0.58-0.87], personal hygiene [AOR 0.8; 95% CI = 0.65-0.99], availability of latrine [AOR 0.34; 95% CI = 0.27-0.44], age [AOR 0.58; 95% CI = 0.48-0.7], habit of eating raw vegetables [AOR 3.71; 95% CI = 3.01-4.46], and family size [AOR 1.96; 95% CI = 1.57-2.45] were the predictors of intestinal parasitic infection.