Nutritional status and academic performance in students

Abstract

Objective. To identify the relationship between nutritional status and academic performance of students from the School of Business Sciences of Universidad de Huanuco, 2017-2018. Methods. It is a cross-sectional study, with a quantitative approach. Population comprised of 612 students, sample comprised of 235 students, selected probabilistically and all of them belonging to the first semester. Instruments used were made up of a socio-demographic survey, internal records for the identification of averages for mathematics and language courses, and an anthropometry card was used to measure nutritional status. Pearson's r correlation test was used in inferential analysis. Ethical considerations were taken into account at all times. Results. It was evident that 35.4 % (84) of the students had malnutrition, 5.9 % (14) for nutritional deficit and 29.5 % (70) for excess. 64.6 % (153) had a normal nutritional state. 60.8 % (144) obtained a regular academic performance, 30.8% (73) a poor performance and 8.4 % (20) a good performance. Conclusion. Nutritional status is significantly related to the academic performance of students from first semester of the School of Business Sciences, 2017 - 2018, of Universidad de Huanuco.