Malnutrition prevalence study in the 2-6 years old children in Kerman rural kindergartens, Kerman, Iran, 2012

Introduction: Infants and young children are the most vulnerable group to malnutrition. Malnutrition can cause child growth disorders. Child growth measurement is a basic instrument to measure the child malnutrition. This study was conducted to determine the malnutrition prevalence in children 2-6 years of age in Kerman rural kindergartens. Methods: The current study is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 1154 of children under 6 year old. Weight and height was measured using standard instrument and method. Data entry was performed by SPSS 18. It is advised to assess child growth in developing countries by using WHO Anthro software. So, weight, height and BMI for age indicators was calculated by WHO Anthro software based on Z-score. To data analysis t-test and x2 test were applied. Results: 1154 children. (597 boys and 557 girls, mean age of 58.4±10 months) were evaluated. Sever, medium and mild stunting (defined as height for age below the -1Z-score) prevalence was observed in 1.6%, 5.5% and 19.1% of children respectively. Sever, medium and mild underweight (defined as weight for age below the -1Z-score) prevalence was observed in 0.7%, 6.7% and 26% respectively. Sever, medium and mild wasting (defined as BMI for age below the -1Z-score) prevalence was observed in 1.3%, 9.5% and 25.6% respectively. Overweight (defined as BMI for age above the +2Z-score) and obesity (defined as BMI for age above the +3Z-score) was observed in 4.5% and 2.4% respectively. No significant difference of malnutrition prevalence was observed between boys and girls (p>0.05). Conclusion: The study results show that underweight and wasting prevalence in studied children based on WHO criteria is high. So emphasis on more efforts to reduce malnutrition in rural children of Kerman. It should be considered as a health priority in this community.