Assessment on Nutritional Status Among 0～7-year-old Children by Anthropometry in Yizhang County,Hunan

Objective To assess nutritional status among children aged from 0 to 7 years in Yizhang County by using anthropometry.Methods With cross-sectional study and random sampling,a survey with a sample size of 2,969 children under 7-year-old was conducted in Yizhang County of Hunan.Height and weight were measured and nutrition status was evaluated with WHO reference using Z scores.Results SD of height for age(HA)and weight for age(WA)were 1.10～1.30 and 1.06～1.40,respectively,and SD of WAZ for infants varied.The distribution of HAZ and WAZ shifted downward to 1 unit and 0.4 unit for distribution of weight for height(WHZ).The prevalence rates of stunting,underweight and wasting were 20.1%,21.6%,and 6.8%,respectively.The prevalence rate of malnutrition was lower among the infants under 3 months of age.Stunting and underweight increased sharply after 6 months and reached 20%～30% at 15 months of age.Significant correlation was found between underweight and stunting or wasting,with the coefficients of 0.815 and 0.636,respectively(P0.01).No correlation was found between stunting and wasting.Conclusions The nutrition status affects children as a whole but not only for individuals.There is a higher prevalence of malnutrition mainly on low height and weight in children of Yizhang County.