Prevalence of Malnutrition in Students of Deprived Areas in South Khorasan

Malnutrition is one of the important health problems throughout the world, particularly in developing countries, which has undesirable effects on mental and physical health of children. Multiple research studies showed malnutrition is a problem in Iran but little research is available on the nutrition-status of children in deprived areas. This cross sectional and descriptive analytical study was done on 1211 school children aged 7-14 years in five deprived regions, selected through multistage cluster sampling methodology. The data were collected through measuring of weight and height. To study malnutrition, three indices were used; namely "weight to age"(underweight),"weight to height" (wasting) and "height to age" (stunting). The obtained data was analyzed by means of chi-square test, SPSS software and EPI-Info 2000, and α= 0.05 was taken as the significant level. Of the 1211 subjects, 54.2% were males and the rest were females. The prevalence of under nutrition among children was as follows: underweight (70.6%), stunting (70%), wasting (20%). With the increase in education levels of mothers, stunting and under weight significantly decreased in children (p<0.001). The results revealed that a high percent of children suffered malnutrition. Increasing the education of mothers and promoting nutrition status of children are recommended in deprived areas.