Growth Pattern of Children under Two Years of Age in Alexandria | ||
| Journal of High Institute of Public Health | ||
| Article 4, Volume 34, Issue 3, July 2004, Pages 529-548 | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jhiph.2004.186417 | ||
| Author | ||
| Nadia F. Farghaly* | ||
| Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| This study was conducted to assess children growth pattern and factors affecting it. The cross sectional data of 250 children were collected during growth monitoring sessions in Smouha Health Center, Alexandria. Weight and height percentiles for each child were obtained, awareness of mothers regarding the interpretation of growth charts was evaluated, and the attendance rate for growth monitoring was also calculated. Only 1.4% of children aged 0-6 months had a weight for age < 5th percentile. Growth faltering prevailed among 22.3% of infants below 6 months; the prevalence of overweight was increasing with age to reach 20% at the second year of age. Both low parental education and irregular attendance rate for growth monitoring were significantly associated with high frequency of growth faltering whereas early introduction of complementary food before six months was significantly associated with overweight. Early preventive interventions in the first year of life should be considered in order to prevent the faltering pattern of growth; nutrition education should be also directed to tackle the problem of overweight among young infants. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Growth Pattern; Children under Two Years; Alexandria | ||
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