Assessment of Physical Growth among the under 6 Years Children in Rural Area in Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Growth monitoring in children has been known as the best index for assessment of nutritional status of a society. This study has been carried out to determine physical growth (Height and weight) and nutritional status of children less than 6 year of age, living in Gorgan city suburb villages. In this descriptive study, sampling was done in one-step, by clustering method, and about 10 percent (2802 persons) of rural children under 6 years were investigated. Weight and height were measured with accuracy of 0.1 kg and 0.1 cm respectively. The exact age of the children was obtained from the files kept in the rural health centers. Comparison of the groups was done with the help of t. test and NCHS standard as reference. The results indicate that girls have better somatic growth than the boys. The prevalence rate of malnutrition increases after the breast-feeding period. The boy`s 43.93 percent and 5.11 percent are under the 2SD NCHS standard for height and weight respectively. But the figures for the girls are 31.49 percent and 6.94 percent respectively. Chronic malnutrition (Delay in height growth) is observed more than the acute malnutrition (Delay in weight growth) in the children under 6 years living in Gorgan suburb villages. Malnutrition is more in boys than the girls, and increase after breast feeding period.