The three conventional anthropometric indicators of childhood undernutrition are stunting (low height-for-age), underweight (low weight-for-age) and wasting (low weight-for-height). Recently a new composite index, namely the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) has been proposed and utilised to study childhood undernutrition. In this paper, we have attempted to construct three new indices of undernutrition, relative to the CIAF. These three indices are: Stunting Index (SI) = Stunting / CIAF, Underweight Index (UI) = Underweight / CIAF and Wasting Index (WI) = Wasting / CIAF. Furthermore, we have calculated and compared these indices using our dataset as well as other existing datasets. Using our dataset, the sex-combined values of SI, UI and WI were 0.364, 0.866 and 0.684, respectively. The corresponding values among boys were 0.364, 0.866 and 0.729. Among girls, they were 0.380, 0.866 and 0.641, respectively. When applied to the all India dataset, the values of SI, UI and WI were 0.756, 0.788 and 0.266, respectively. Similar values (SI = 0.723, UI = 0.681, WI = 0.294) were observed when they were computed on data available from Coimbatore, South India. In conclusion, we suggest that these three new indices provide additional information on the prevalence of different forms of undernutrition relative to the total level of undernutrition in a particular population.

The nutritional status of tuberculosis patients (TBP) and controls (CT) was compared among adult (> 20 years) Bengalees in Shyamnagar, Barrackpore, Naihati and Jagaddal of North 24 Parganas District, West Bengal, India. The subjects included 310 men (154 TBP and 156 CT) and 246 women (128 TBP and 118 CT). The mean ages of TBP men was 36.4 years (CT = 34.5) and that of TBP women was 26.4 years (CT = 25.6). Variables compared included weight, height, fat mass, fat mass index, mid-upper arm fat area, and skinfolds. Results revealed that TBP had significantly lower means for all variables (except for height in men) compared to CT in both sexes. In men, the highest percent differences between the two groups were observed for fat mass (FM: 60.1%), fat mass index (FMI: 59.2%) and suprailiac skinfold (SUPSF: 58.8%). In women, the highest percent differences between the two groups were observed for SUPSF (59.7), mid-upper arm fat area (MUAFA: 58.1), triceps skinfold (TSF: 51.4), biceps skinfold (BSF: 51.2), FM (51.2) and FMI (49.0). Regression analyses confirmed that tuberculosis status had significant impact (p < 0.0001) on all anthropometric and body composition characteristics compared (except for height in men) in both sexes. Among men, tuberculosis status explained the highest percent variation in percent body fat (PBF: 57.2%), FMI (56.0%) and FM (55.6%). In women, tuberculosis status explained the highest amount of variation in PBF (67.9), TSF (63.5%), BSF (62.8), FMI (61.0) and FM(60.7). Results of contingency chi-square tests revealed that there were significant differences in the frequency of undernutrition between TBP and CT in men (χ2 = 73.13361) and women (χ2 = 59.0000). The frequencies of undernutrition were significantly more common among TBP, in both men (56.5%) as well as women (51.6%). This study provided evidence that there was significant differential amount of loss in fat and muscle measures in tuberculosis patients.
tributyl phosphate ; Male population group ; Tuberculosis ; X-Ray Computed Tomography ; Fatty acid glycerol esters