Analysis on nutritional status of children under three years of age in the poor rural areas of Xinjiang Vygur Autonomous Region

Objective: To investigate the nutritional status of children under 3 years old in the poor rural areas of Xinjiang Vygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang province) in China, and to provide basis for intervention pertinently. Methods: Under the design of cross-sectional study and randomly sampling, height and weight were used as measurement of nutritional status of children. Results: The prevalences of stunting (Height for Age Z-score< - 2), Underweight (Weight for Age Z-score< - 2) and wasting (Weight for Height Z-score< - 2) were 24.3%, 23.1% and 9.1%, respectively. The prevalence rates of the Vygur children were higher than those of the Han Nationality children and in the poor counties were higher than the wealthy counties. Compared with reference distribution of NCHS/WHO, the distribution of HAZ and WAZ shifted left significantly. Conclusions: There are serious nutritional problems in the children under three years of age in the poor rural areas of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is important to promote education of nutrition and control the common diseases for children. In addition, it should be noticed that an intervention is required for the nutritional status of the entire children.