Volume 4, Issue 4 (Nov 2019)                   JNFS 2019, 4(4): 249-255 | Back to browse issues page


XML Print


Pregnancy Health Research Center, Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
Abstract:   (2577 Views)
Background: Malnutrition, as a serious health problem in children, has an increasing prevalence in the developing countries. This study aimed to evaluate the anthropometric indices of primary school children in Iranshahr, a city in central region of Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 1000 6-14 year-old primary school children studying in 16 public and 5 private schools in Iranshahr city from May to June 2017. The sampling was done using multistage cluster random method. The school records were used to determine the students' ages. Their weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) were measured. Anthropometric indices including weight-for-age, height-for-age, and BMI-for-age were assessed using the National Center for Health Statistics/World Health Organization international growth reference and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2000). Results: The rate of thinness was significantly higher in public than private schools (18.1% vs 1%; P < 0.0001). Overweight/obesity was lower in public schools’ children compared to students of the private schools (0.1% vs 9.3%; P = 0.007). The rates of stunting and underweight in public and private schools’ children were 50.2% vs. 53.3% (P = 0.11) and 46.6% vs 35% (P < 0.0001), respectively. Conclusion: Findings showed that although nutritional status was better in private schools than public schools, malnutrition is still a potential public health problem in this area. Therefore, the nutrition interventions are suggested at national and regional levels to increase the parents' awareness.
Full-Text [PDF 464 kb]   (495 Downloads) |   |   Full-Text (HTML)  (652 Views)  
Type of article: orginal article | Subject: public specific
Received: 2018/06/20 | Published: 2019/11/1 | ePublished: 2019/11/1

References
1. Agbozo F, Atito P & Abubakari A 2016. Malnutrition and associated factors in children: a comparative study between public and private schools in Hohoe Municipality, Ghana. BMC Nutrition 2(32).
2. Alkali YSAJ, Sabin M & Zacharin M 2015. Socio-economic status, lifestyle and childhood obesity in Gombe. Nigerian journal of paediatrics. 42: 107-110.
3. Ashok NC, Kavitha HS & Kulkarni P 2014. A comparative study of nutritional status between government and private primary school children of Mysore city. International journal of health & allied sciences. 3 (3): 164-169.
4. Bener A, et al. 2011. Obesity and low vision as a result of excessive Internet use and television viewing. International journal of food sciences and nutrition. 62(Issue 1): 60-62.
5. Blössner M, de Onis M, Dasgupta P, Saha S & Sengupta D 2001. The National Center for Health Statistics reference and the growth of Indian adolescent boys. American journal of clinical nutrition. 74 (2): 248-253.
6. Boyle M, et al. 2006. The influence of economic development level, household wealth and maternal education on child health in the developing world Social science & medicine 63: 2242-2254.
7. Daboné C, Delisle HF & Receveur O 2011. Poor nutritional status of schoolchildren in urban and peri-urban areas of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Nutrition journal. 10 (34).
8. Gaddah M, Munro A & Quartey P 2016. Education subsidy and school enrollments in rural Ghana. International journal of educational development 46: 143-152.
9. Jafari S, et al. 2014. Body Mass Index, Weight-for-age, and Stature-for-age Indices in Iranian School Children in Relation to Weight and Growth Disorders: A Population-based Survey. International journal of preventive medicine. 5 (Suppl 2): 133-138.
10. Jafari S, et al. 2014 Body Mass Index, Weight-for-age, and Stature-for-age Indices in Iranian School Children in Relation to Weight and Growth Disorders: A Population-based Survey. International journal of preventive medicine. 5(Suppl 2) (2): 133-138.
11. Karajibani M, MontazeriFar F, Mohammadi M & Dashipour AR 2003. The prevalence of obesity and hunger in the middle school students. Journal of Zahedan University of medical siences. 6 (4).
12. Kuczmarski RJ, et al. 2000. CDC growth charts: United States. Advanced data. 314: 1-27.
13. Kyriazis I, et al. 2012. Prevalence of obesity in children aged 6-12 years in Greece: nutritional behaviour and physical activity. Archives of medical science. 8 (5): 859-864.
14. Mohseni M, Aryankhesal A & Kalantari N 2018. Prevalence of Malnutrition Among Iran’s Under Five-Year-Old Children and the Related Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Iranian journal of pediatrics 28 (1): e9189.
15. Rezaeian SA, J. Esmailnasab ,N. Veisani , Y. Shayan, M. Moradi, N. 2014 Assessment of Health and Nutritional Status in Children Based on School Screening Programs. . Health scope. 3 (1): e14462.
16. Shafieian T, et al. 2013. Determinants of Nutritional Status in Children living in Mashhad, Iran. International journal of pediatrics. 1 (2): 9-18.
17. Singh M 2003. Nutritional status of children of a slum community of Varanasi. International journal of public health. 45: 128-133.
18. Srivastava A, Mahmood E, Srivastava PM, Shrotriya VP & Kumar B 2012. Nutritional status of school-age children - A scenario of urban slums in India. Archives of public health 70 (1): 8.
19. UNICEF/WHO 2018. Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates ; Levels and trends in malnutrition. In https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/JME-2018-brochure.
20. Waters H, Saadah F, Surbakti S & Heywood P 2004. Weight-for-age malnutrition in Indonesian children, 1992-1999. International journal of epidemiology. 33 (3): 589-595.
21. Wisniewski SLW 2010. Child Nutrition, Health Problems, and School Achievement in Sri Lanka. World development. 38 (3): 315-332.
22. Ziaee V KR, Ardalan G, Gheiratmand R, Majdzadeh R. 2006. Physical activity in Iranian students,Caspian study. . Iranian journal of pediatrics. 16 (2): 157-164.

Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.