Investigation on height and weight of 8 year-old children from Kashan in 1993

Abstract

Objective: Growth retardation in children is one of the most prominent signs of malnutrition. In order to know the malnourished child, one must continually measure the height and weight of the child and compare them with standard criteria. Then, if the child is proved to suffer from malnutrition, the professionals must think of proper ways of treatment. Methods: In March 1993, a cross-sectional study was conducted with random-cluster sampling on 8 year-old students in 54 schools, with a sample size of 1938 i.e. 902 girls and 1036 boys. Height and weight of children measured without shoes and with least clothing. Findings: The average of height of the girls (124.0±5.58 cm) has shown to be lower than of the boys (125.0±5.41 cm), and shown statistically significant by student’s T-test. The average of the weight of girls (23.5±3.66 kg) is lower than that in boys (23.9±3.27 kg) with a significant difference (P<0.01). Conclusion: Height and weight of school children of Kashan is higher than school children of Shiraz, Qazvin and Guilan. 8 year-old girls and boys from Kashan are shorter than girls and boys from Kermanshah (As mush as 2.4 cent.), and higher than them (As much as 4.5kg). Girls and boys from Kasha are shorter than and lower in height and weight, respectively, than counter parts in America, England and Canada. We can not consider the measurements of growth in other countries as justifiable criteria for comparison, and it is recommended that we try to determine a specific average for height and weight to evaluate growth of our children in Iran.

Keywords

• height
• weight
• children
• student