A study on the nutritional status of adolescents in COVID 19 in Surat

Nutrition

Children between the age of 10-18 years are defined to be adolescence by WHO. After infancy, this is the second stage of the growth spurt. A sudden increase in the growth rate is referred to as a growth spurt. The growth rate is not consistent for both gender, it occurs in the spurt. On December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia of then-unknown etiology emerged in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China. The causal agent was later identified as a new beta coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2, which can affect the lower respiratory tract and cause bilateral pneumonia in humans. The World Health Organization (WHO) termed it as COVID-19; it infected and killed thousands of people throughout the world. Extraordinary measures have been taken in most countries, including India, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. One of the drastic measures taken was that of the total confinement of the population in their homes, also known as lockdown. There were total 80 participants out of which 55 were male and 25 were female. For data collection, a google form was formulated which included the anthropometric information during and after lockdown, meal pattern and a food frequency questionnaire. 51.25% (n=41) of participants were underweight. Whereas 41.25% (n=33) were having normal weight and 5% (n=4) participants were overweight. 1.25% (n=1) participants were reported pre-obese, while 1.25% (n=1) participants were categorized as type II obese. It was seen that 26.3% of participants skipped their meals during the lockdown. 25% of adolescents skipped their breakfast during the lockdown and 35% skipped it after lockdown.

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