Prevalence of malnutrition in students of elementary schools

Malnutrition may cause many disturbances in any age, especially in children, thus, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition in students of elementary schools in Larestan city. The present cross sectional–descriptive Study was performed on 876 students from primary schools in the city of Larestan. Students were selected by multistage method. Different parameters including weight for age (W/A), height for age (H/A) and weight for height (W/H) were calculated and compared to National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) standards. Students’ height and weight were measured using standard apparatus. The software Epi-info and SPSS was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics and Chi- square tests were used to compare the results. The prevalence of severe malnutrition, with weight for age, height for age and weight for height were7.30%, 6.05% and 9.81% respectively. The weight for age and weight for height malnutrition was more prevalent in girls than in boys (P <0.05). The prevalence of malnutrition in students from elementary schools in Larestan city is high. The underlying causes of malnutrition should be identified and programs for the solution of the problem designed.