Assessment of height and weight in children under 6 years in rural areas of Gorgan, 1998

Background and Growth monitoring in children has been known as the best index for assessment of nutritional status of a society. This study has been carried out to determine physical growth (height and weight) and nutritional status of children under 6 years of age, living in Gorgan city suburb villages. Ïn this descriptive study, sampling was done in one-step, by clustering method, and about 10% (2802 persons) of rural children under 6 years were investigated. Weight and height were measured with accuracy of 0.1 kg. and 0.1 cm. respectively. The exact age of the children was obtained from the files kept in the rural health centers. Çomparison of the groups was done with the help of t.test and NÇHS standard as reference. The results indicate that girls have better somatic growth than the boys. The prevalence rate of malnutrition increases after the breast feeding period. The boy’s 43.93% and 5.11% are under the –2SD NÇHS standard for height and weight respectively. But the figures for the girls are 31.49% and 6.94% respectively. Çonclusion: Çhronic malnutrition (delay in height growth) is observed more than the acute malnutrition (delay in weight growth) in the children under 6 years living in Gorgan suburb villages. Malnutrition is more in boys than the girls, and increases after breast feeding period.