Effects of parents education and family income on children’s anthropometric status in Northwestern Iran

Introduction: Due to the undeniable impacts of nutrition on the growth and evolution of a child, insufficient and improper follow-up may cause malnutrition and serious health problems at this age group. Owing to the important role of health centers in controlling children s growth, this research evaluated the effects of parents education and family income on anthropometric status of the children 0-18 months attending health centers in Northwestern Iran. Method : In the present cross-sectional study, a total of 676 children aged 0-18 months were enrolled for health and growth evaluation in Tabriz health centers during 4st April 2010 – 19st March 2019. Weight and height were taken by trained staff using standard anthropometric techniques. Data from children s forms, present in Health centers, were taken out and analyzed. The z-score of weight-for-height, weight-for-age and height-for-age was calculated as against CDC growth standard, using Epi-Info software. The pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between the two variables carried out using SPSS statistics software (Version 25). Results : According to the results, prevalence of illiteracy among children s mothers was 2%, whereas there were no illiterate fathers. Also, the levels of undergraduate and graduate mothers were 56.1% and 41.9%, respectively. In contrast, there were 42.4% and 57.6% undergraduate and graduate fathers, respectively. Moreover, there was a strong positive correlation of the mothers’ education level with weight to height ratio in 15-day-old infants (P=0.03), weight for age index in 2, 4, 6, and 9-month-old children (P=0.01, P=0.02, P=0.02, and P=0.005, respectively), and height for age index in 9-month-old children (P=0.008). In addition, there was a great positive correlation between the fathers’ education level and children’s weight to age index in 6 and 9-month-old children (P=0.04 and P=0.01, respectively). Furthermore, family income was positively correlated with children’s weight to age index in 4 and 6-month-old children (P=0.01 and P=0.02, respectively). Conclusion : Due to remarkable effects of parents’ education level on weight and height of 9- month-old children as well as strong impacts of parents’ income and education level on weight and height of 4 and 6-month-old children, it is essential to train illiterate and undergraduate parents to improve weight and height status of these age groups.

Keywords:

malnutrition , children , weight , height , z-score