Research in Medicine

 Background: Growth is a suitable indicator of health and appropriate nutrition among children. It may delay due to insufficient intake of energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Indeed, growth can efficiently evaluate child's health and nutrition status.

 Materials and methods: During this cross sectional study 300 children aged 0-36 months were randomly  selected. Data were gathered through face-to-face interview with their mothers and also determination of their weight and height. Nutritional status of children was determined and the role of dependent and independent variables was evaluated.

Results: Results have revealed that 3, 13.3, and 2.7% of children had present and past, past, and present  malnutrition, respectively. A significant correlation was noted between past malnutrition with child age  (p<0.01), birth weight (p<0.005), age at which complementary feeding was started (p<0.03), and father's job (p<0.04). Meanwhile, a significant correlation was found between past and present malnutrition with child age (p<0.04), birth weight (p<0.0004), and duration of breast feeding (p<0.00l). Finally, there was a  (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Malnutrition is a major problem among the children of this region. A proper programming to solve the problem is highly suggested.