Secular Trends in Growth among School Children of Shiraz (southern Iran) Born in the Post-war Period

Background: Secular trends in stature, weight and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) of 2397 school children (1268 boys and 1129 girls) of the same age (6.5-11.5 years) and sex in representative samples from primary schools of Shiraz (southern Iran) at an interval of 15 years (1988 vs 2003) are reported. Methods: Cross-sectional weight, height and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) curves were created for both sexes. One sample t-tests were utilized to analyze differences between average height, weight and MUAC of the 1988 and 2003 samples (the values of the previous study treated as constant). Results: Both samples included children of various socio-economic backgrounds for both males and females of each age-class. There are significant positive secular trends in stature, weight and MUAC of children born in the post-war period sampled in 2003. These children are generally taller, heavier, and larger than their peers of 15 years earlier born preand during the imposed war period of Iraq against Iran. The 2003 sample shows less growth deficits in relation to the CDC reference data. Conclusion: The positive trend can be explained as the result of economic development and improvement of social and health indicators in Iran in the post-war period. MJIRI, Vol. 20, No. 3, 141-146, 2006.