Contrastive study on physique status between urban and rural children aged 3 to 6 years in Jining City

Objective To find out the differences of growth and development of children aged 3 to 6 years between urban and rural areas in Jining City so as to provide the references for promoting the health education on them.Methods According to the Working Program of National Physique Supervision in 2005 and the Working Handbook of National Physique Supervision in 2005 by National Sports Bureau,802 children aged 3 to 6 years from urban and rural areas were divided into 16 age groups of 4 swatches on the basis of sex,and 14 physique indexes including formation,function and quality were investigated in May,2005.Results The present physique situation of these children was totally well according to the growth features of children.However,the development of the children between the urban and rural areas was not consistent.The height and weight of urban children were superior to those of rural ones,and the overall quality of the urban children was far prior to that of the rural children.Conclusions The status of nutrition and health of rural children is not very well and the government should pay more concern to them.