Estado nutricional y hábitos alimentarios en niños de 3 a 5 años que asisten al Centro de Salud “Ficsh”. Sucúa 2021

Abstract

BACKGROUND: malnutrition is the result of inappropriate food consumption, creating a food imbalance; affecting mainly the child population, considering it a public health problem and despite the preventive measures that governments have taken, it has not been completely eradicated; Therefore, according to the FAO, in 2018 a delay in growth and development was reported worldwide, where Latin America and the Caribbean has a percentage of 6.5%, occupying the third place in the world for undernourishment. In Ecuador, the province of Morona Santiago has a high prevalence rate of malnutrition of 43.9%. Malnutrition together with other factors such as socioeconomic status, family functionality, among others, negatively influence cognitive development, causing risk of school failure during childhood and poverty in adulthood. OBJECTIVE: To determine the nutritional status and eating habits in children aged 3 to 5 years who attend the "FICSH" Health Center, Sucúa 2021.

METHODOLOGY: A study with a quantitative approach was carried out using a cross- sectional analytical observational design, with a sample of 210 children. The data were

collected through interviews with direct questions applying different questionnaires and drawing the WHO growth curves; the results were analyzed with the SPSS program and were represented in tables and percentages. RESULTS: The children surveyed were between 3 and 5 years old, the male sex prevailed with 51.9%, 61.9% resided in rural areas, the main caregivers were their parents (96.19%) , a large part had a level of basic school instruction (45.2%), of low socioeconomic level (55.2%), with moderately functional families (53.3%), showing a medium nutritional level (52.4%) According to the WHO growth curves, global malnutrition or low weight prevails with 54.29% and chronic malnutrition or short stature with 43.8%. CONCLUSION: it is concluded that most of the variables have a statistically significant association with the nutritional status of the children, such as: the caregiver and their level of education, the socioeconomic level, the nutritional level, and the family functionality; With the exception of the sex variable, which had a p value = 0.319.