Anthropometric Assessment:A Direct Indicator of Nutritional Status of Rural Women of Bihar

Anthropometric measurement of an individual is the best parameter to assess nutritional status at the individual level. The study was conducted on 60 rural women from Bihar from two villages of Pusa block, Samastipur to assess anthropometric status of the respondents as indicator of their nutritional status. Mean age of the respondents of village Birauli Khurd is 30.37 and of village Morsand Bahadura is 30.80 years. 63.33 per cent of the respondents from Birauli Khurd and 50.0 per cent of the respondents from Morsand Bahadura became mother at less than 19 years of age. Mean height of the respondents of both the villages was 148 cm each. Their mean height was 90.24 per cent of the NCHS Standard. Mean weight of the respondents of Birauli Khurd was only 76.06 per cent of the NCHS Standard while that of Morsand Bahadura was only 74.67 per cent of the NCHS Standard. Majority of the respondents (53.33%) from Birauli Khurd had BMI between 18.0- 25.0 which is the normal range as classified by James et al. (1988). Majority of the respondents (60.0%) of Morsand Bahadura had a normal BMI in the range of 18.0- 25.0.