Malnutrition and academic development: a study among first graders from the peripheric urban area of Londrina, PR, Brazil

Abstract

Four hundred and fifty first graders from the peripheric urban area of Londrina were studied with the objective of demonstrating a possible association between malnutrition and school failure. In this series of 450 children, 227 were male and 223 were female. The incidence of malnutrition was 34,89%. Of the undernourished children, only 56,69% had a satisfactory outcome in comparison with 73,88% of the eutrophic children, thus demonstrating a significant relation between malnutrition and school failure. The undernourished children belonged to families with a low per capita gross monthly income, in a greater proportion than the eutrophic ones. School failure was shown to be more closely related to per capita month expenditures in food rather than with the per capita gross monthly income itself.