Indicadores antropométricos de la niñez en situación de calle en Medellín, Colombia Anthropometric indicators for homeless children and youths in Medellin, Colombia

Objective: to describe the anthropometric indicators of body mass index for age (BMI/A) and height for age (H/A) in children and adolescents living on the streets of Medellin, according to sociodemographic and drug abuse characteristics. Methodology: a descriptive study of 453 medical and nutritional records of homeless children and adolescents. The anthropometric indicators were categorized according to growth patterns accepted for Colombia. A bivariate descriptive analysis between anthropometric, sociodemographic and drug abuse variables was conducted. Results: 27.8% of children and adolescents had stunting and 35.3%, had risk of stunting. Stunting was higher for men (89.7%) than for women (10.3%) (p <0.05). As for bmi/a, 4.2% of the individuals had thinness, 14.1% risk of thinness and 2.2% had weight excess. Additionally, a statistically significant association (p <0.01) between bmi/a and age and between H/A