Factors Affecting Growth Disorder in Children Aged Below ۶ Years in the Northwest of Iran

Background: Children growth disorders should be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible, delay in treatment cause many problems in their adolescence.Objective: In this study, marginalized transition and transition models were used to evaluate the factors affecting growth disorders (GD) of children aged below ۶ years in West Azerbaijan of Iran.Methodology: This is a prospective-longitudinal study conducted on ۱۰۷۰ infants, who were included into study in a two-stage cluster sampling. During ۶ years, the infants' weight and their developmental characteristics (age of walking, age of speaking, and age of teething) were recorded. R software was used to analyze binary data by marginal transition and transition models.Results: The results of this research showed that the main effects of the variables of maternal elementary education (p = ۰.۰۰۵) and maternal high school education (p = ۰.۰۰۷), type of delivery (p=۰.۰۴۶), child gender (p <۰.۰۰۱), health care (p <۰.۰۰۱), teething age (p = ۰.۰۱۱), walking age (p <۰.۰۰۱) and time (p = ۰.۰۰۱) on GD were significant (in the marginal mean model). In addition, the effects of variables of academic education (p <۰.۰۰۱), child gender (p = ۰.۰۰۱) and breastfeeding (۰.۰۳۶ p =) on GD were significant (in previous times dependent model). Moreover, the effect of variable of having GD in the previous time was significant (first order, p <۰.۰۰۱).Discussion: Present study revealed that significant effect of demographic variables on GD in children. It showed that by increasing the teething age, the odds of GD in children would decrease. Also, in our study, the odds of GD in children born with cesarean delivery were greater than those of children born with normal delivery. Our results indicated that the odds of GD in children who did not receive health care were higher than those of children who received health care. Furthermore, the odds of GD in a given month were more in children who previously had a GD than those who did not have a GD in the previous month.

Keywords:

Children growth disorder , marginalized transition models , transition model , longitudinal studies , child growth