[Trends and prevalence of malnutrition among children under five year-old in Chinese rural of different classes].

OBJECTIVE: To study the trends and prevalence of malnutrition status among Chinese children under 5 year-old in different type rural areas from 1992 - 2002. METHODS: The paper based on anthropometry data collected in 'National Nutrition Survey in 1992' and 'China National Nutrition and Health Survey in 2002' applied age - and sex - specific height and weight reference recommended by WHO/NCHS and analyzed data with the SAS8.2 software. RESULTS: The prevalence of stunting among children under 5 year-old in four classes rural areas were 12.4%, 15.4%, 11.5% and 29.3% respectively, the prevalence of underweight were 7.4%, 8.7%, 5.4% and 14.4%. The prevalence of moderate stunting in Chinese rural areas had decreased from 20.5% in 1992 to 12.0% in 2002, the prevalence of severe stunting fell from 14.5% to 5.2%. Compared to 1992, the prevalence of moderate underweight and severe underweight decreased 47.7% and 72.3% respectively.