Introduction:

In the field of public health, the tendency is to prioritize the issue of nutritional surveillance in the population, through the monitoring of the nutritional state´s behavior.

Objective:

Assess the nutritional state of children under 18 years old in Pasto municipality in the period 2014-2016.

Methods:

Observational-descriptive study of the studied population´s nutritional state reported in the databases of the Municipal Health Secretariat of Pasto-Colombia.

Results:

158 614 records were analyzed, of which 40.82% were children under 5 years and 9.18% in ages between 5 and 18 years. Regarding global malnutrition, 18.9% of children were diagnosed at risk: 7.2% with acute global malnutrition and 0.7% with severe global malnutrition. For acute malnutrition, 10.4% had a risk diagnosis, 4.8% acute malnutrition and 0.8% severe acute malnutrition. In the estimate of chronic malnutrition, 30.9% of the children presented risk of growth retardation and 13.05% growth retardation. 16.7% of the population were overweight, 4.2% obese, 10.6% risk of thinness and 2.7% thinness.

Conclusions:

According to the National Survey of the Nutritional Situation in Colombia, malnutrition decreased in the country between 2010 and 2015. However, there is still malnutrition in Pasto municipality which, together with the increase in the rate of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents, represents a situation of malnutrition, which could be reflected in major health problems from the generation of chronic diseases to which it leads.

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