Background and Objective:
One in every five children in developing countries are malnourished, and the poor
nutrition is associated with half of all children deaths worldwide. The aim of
current study was to assess the nutritional status of less than five-year
children in Salmas district, using ENA (Emergency Nutrition Assessment)
software.
Materials and Methods: This
cross-sectional study was conducted on 902 under-five-year children in urban
and rural regions of Salmas district in 2011. The required data were collected
by completing the questionnaire and measuring the anthropometric indices. The
percentages of underweight, stunting, wasting, overweight and obesity were
determined using ENA software. Chi-square test was used for data analysis.
Results: In this study,
50.4% (455 children) of children were girls and 83.8% (756 children) and 16.2%
(146 children) were normal and malnourished, respectively. Among malnourished children the percentages
of underweight, stunting, wasting, overweight and obesity were 14.4% (21
children), 45.2% (66 children), 8.9% (13 children), 24.7% (36 children) and
6.8% (10 children), respectively. Overweight and obesity among boys and in
urban areas were more prevalent but these differences were not statistically significant
(p>0.05). Stunting in rural areas was more prevalent and this difference was
statistically significant (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The results of
this study showed that the stunting which represents chronic malnutrition among
children, among both boys and girls was more frequent than underweight and
wasting. In addition, the method used in this study was a simple, rapid, and
accurate method and it is suggested using it as a convenient tool for other
epidemiological studies and crisis in the country.
Key words: Malnutrition,
Under-five-year children, Rapid survey
Funding:
This study was funded by Food and Beverages Safety Research Center, Urmia
University of Medical Sciences.
Conflict
of interest: None declared.
Ethical
approval: The Institutional Review Board approved the
study.
How to cite this article:
Nourisaeidlou S, Babaie F, Ayremlou P. A
Rapid Survey of the Nutritional Status of Under-Five-Year Children in Salmas. J RafsanjanUniv Med Sci 2015 14(6): 481-92. [Farsi]
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