A cross­sectional study investigated age and sex variations in chronic energy deficiency (CED) among 114 individuals (2­18 years) of Gond population of Binouri village, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. The sample was selected randomly to study CED grades using anthropometric indicators. Nutritional status was evaluated in four groups of different age categories­ pre­schoolers: 2­5 years (n=16), children: 6­12 years (n=38), adolescents: 13­18 years (n=12) and adults: >18years (n=45) using the age­sex specific cut­off points of body mass index (BMI). Statistical analysis was performed using MS Excel and SPSS software. The considered socio­demographic variables such as age at marriage, educational and occupational status showed significant difference with respect to sex. Majority of the adult population belongs to the lower socio­economic class with few middle classes among the studied population. No significant agesex specific difference is observed for mean values of anthropometric variables such as height, weight and BMI. The overall frequency of CED among the studied population is 37.83 % (serious stage) with highest among children (50%). Moreover, occurrence of thinness is found to be higher among girls as compared to the boys. The prevalence of Grade III thinness is found to be highest among pre­schooler children (18.75%) followed by children with 2.63%. Whereas Grade I undernutrition is highest among children (34.21%) followed by pre­school children (25.0%), adult (17.78%) and adolescent (16.67%). All the age groups considered in the present study are not statistically significant for the degree of malnutrition except for adults (p < 0.05). The result shows that undernutrition is more prevalent among children than their adult counterpart. Similar data from other communities from state(s) should be collected and analyzed for better understanding and to reduce the prevalence of undernutrition in children and women as a whole.

Keywords: Nutritional Status; Socio­Economic; Demographic; Gond; Tribes.