Analysis of growth among children under 7 years in rural area of Jiangxi

Objective:To assess physical growth and prevalence rates of malnutrition for children under 7 years in rural area of Jiangxi province.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in 9 238 children under 7 years with random sampling.The height and weight were measured by professional staffs,the physical growth was evaluated with WHO/NCHS reference using Z scores.Results:The physical growth was no lower than WHO/NCHS reference among children younger than 6 months,then fell after 6 months.The Z scores were most distributed between-1~1 of children less than 6 months,then shifted downward to-2~0 after 6 months.The distributions of Z scores of height for age(HAZ)and Z scores of weight for age(WAZ)were almost between-2~0,and Z scores of weight for height(WHZ)was between-1~1.The prevalence of stunting,underweight and wasting were 13.2%,13.0% and 2.9%,respectively;the prevalence of malnutrition was lowest in infants younger than 6 months;the prevalence of stunting was highest in 18~24 months.Conclusion:The growth of the children still has some defect compared with WHO standard.Improving socioeconomic level and health education could diminish and escape malnutrition of children.