A study of physical growth of primary school children in Babol, 1998

Abstract

Objective: Surveillance and evaluation of the physical growth of children are the main source of information for nutritional status, promotion of health status and progress of learning process in children. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physical growth (Height, weight) of school age children at 6-11 years in the city of Babol. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a sample of 995 students from primary schools was conducted using cluster-sampling technique in 1998. Height and weight were measured for each student. In the statistical analysis, the percentiles of height and weight (For age and gender) were compared with NCHS standards. Findings: The results show that the 50th percentile of weight of boys and girls was close to 25th percentile of NCHS up to 11 year but it was located under 25th percentile of NCHS at 11 year. Also, the 50th percentile of height was between 25th and 50th percentile of NCHS up to 10 year it was deviated toward 25th percentile at 10 year (P<0.05). These results show that the nutrition status of children has been deteriorated by increasing age. Conclusion: The results indicated that weight and height of American children can not be generalized to our population. Thus, it is necessary to provide standard charts of growth at the national level.

Keywords

• physical growth
• height
• weight
• circumference
• school age children
• malnutrition