الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Stunting is a problem of greater magnitude and it accurately reflects the nutritional disorders that occur during the most critical periods for growth and development in early life. This is a descriptive study aimed to assess the risk factors for stunting among children with nutritional disorders. This study was conducted at nutrition outpatient clinic at children’s hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University. The study involved all the available children (n=65) and their accompanying mothers who are attending the previously mentioned setting over a period of 6 months. Two tools were used to collect data; a predesigned questionnaire format to assess the studied children and their mother’s characteristics as well as the risk factors for stunting syndrome among children under 5 years. The second tool was the growth charts to assess height and weight for age percentiles for both sex boys and girls. The main results of the study showed that, the mean age of studied children was 20.6± 0.84 months while mean age of studied mothers was 22.9±6.5 years old. Additionally, 15.4% & 32.3% & 47.7% & 4.6% of children were categorized as normal, mild stunting, severe stunting and over-height respectively. This study concluded that, stunting in children under 5 years old show association with exclusive breast-feeding, frequency of hospitalization, recurrent gastroenteritis and respiratory tract infection. The study recommended training programs for mothers to maintain optimal feeding practices and emphasize the importance of early case finding and management of stunting in children under 5 years old. Key words: children under 5 years old – nutritional disorders – risk factors – stunting. |