Author/Authors :
Delvarianzadeh, Mehri Shahroud University of Medical Sciences - School of Public Health , Bahar, Aysa Semnan University of Medical Sciences - School of Medicine - Student Research Committee , Khosravi, Farideh Shahroud University of Medical Sciences - Occupational and Environmental Health Research Center - Dept. of Biostatistics
Abstract :
Background: This study aimed to assess the nutritional status of
children under two years old in two time periods in 1995 and 2016 in
rural areas of Shahroud.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive analytical study enrolled
1443 participants selected by cluster sampling in 1995 and 2016. We
calculated the mean standard deviation of weight for age, height for
age, and weight for height and compared them with international
reference values (WHO/NCHS). The obtained values which were two
standard deviations below the mean reference values were defined as
wasting, underweight, and stunting. The collected data was analyzed in
SPSS software at a significance level of 0.05 using descriptive
statistics, chi-square test, and regression analysis.
Results: In this study, 1443 children under two years old were studied
over two time periods in 1995 and 2016. The results showed 14.9%,
29.5%, and 7.3%, in 1995 and 9.2%, 10.1%, and 4% in 2016 suffered
from underweight, wasting, and stunting, respectively. Among the
factors involved in malnutrition in 1995 were parents’ education,
family size, child gender, birth order, type of the first complementary
food, diarrhea, acute respiratory infection in the two weeks prior to the
study, and exclusive breastfeeding. In 2016, we observed significant
relationships between the body mass index (BMI), underweight,
wasting, exclusive breastfeeding, and all three types of malnutrition.
Conclusions: Despite a reduction in the prevalence of different types of
malnutrition, it is still a common problem. When designing family
physician program and children growth and development, special
attention must be paid to promote breastfeeding
