Khor G, Tee E S
Department of Nutrition and Community Health, Faculty of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Malays J Nutr. 1997 Mar;3(1):21-47.
This paper presents the results of anthropometric assessment of 2,364 boys and 2,415 girls aged 18 years and below drawn from the estates and rural community groups engaged in padi farming, rubber planting, coconut cultivation and fishing. The children were mainly Malay, however in the estates, Indians predominated. The results showed that the percentage of boys who have normal weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height were respectively 69.4%, 68.3% and 88.8%. Among girls, the percentage with normal values for weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height were 73.8%, 72.6% and 89.5% respectively. This study also showed the persistence of underweight, stunting and wasting amongst children in the study communities. Overall, the prevalence of underweight among boys was 29.8% and for girls 25.5%. The prevalence of stunting was 31.3% for boys and 26.9% for girls, while wasting was found in 9.3% boys and 8.5% girls. By age groups, the prevalence of underweight was lowest among the infants (16.8% for boys and 13.3% for girls), and highest among children aged above 1 to 6 years old (32.6% and 35.9% for boys and girls respectively). Children from the fishing, rubber and padi villages showed a higher prevalence of acute and chronic undernutrition than those from the coconut and the estate communities. In contrast, the mean prevalence of overweight in the five community groups did not exceed 2%. When compared with another peninsula-wide nutritional assessment of poverty villages undertaken in 1979-1983, it is found, over the past decade, that the prevalence of underweight in rural communities appeared to have decreased somewhat while that of stunting showed a more substantial decline. The persistence of current undernutrition has led to the manifestation of children who were too thin for their "non-stunted" height, thus giving rise to an apparently higher prevalence of wasting as found in this study. The implications of these results are discussed.
本文呈现了对2364名18岁及以下男孩和2415名18岁及以下女孩进行人体测量评估的结果，这些儿童来自从事水稻种植、橡胶种植、椰子种植和捕鱼的种植园及农村社区群体。这些孩子主要是马来人，不过在种植园中，印度人占多数。结果显示，年龄别体重、年龄别身高和身高别体重正常的男孩比例分别为69.4%、68.3%和88.8%。在女孩中，年龄别体重、年龄别身高和身高别体重正常的比例分别为73.8%、72.6%和89.5%。本研究还表明，研究社区中的儿童存在体重不足、发育迟缓以及消瘦问题。总体而言，男孩体重不足的患病率为29.8%，女孩为25.5%。男孩发育迟缓的患病率为31.3%，女孩为26.9%，而消瘦在男孩中的患病率为9.3%，女孩为8.5%。按年龄组划分，体重不足的患病率在婴儿中最低（男孩为16.8%，女孩为13.3%），在1至6岁以上儿童中最高（男孩和女孩分别为32.6%和35.9%）。来自渔村、橡胶村和水稻村的儿童急性和慢性营养不良的患病率高于来自椰子村和种植园社区的儿童。相比之下，五个社区群体中超重的平均患病率不超过2%。与1979 - 1983年在整个半岛范围内对贫困村进行的另一项营养评估相比，发现在过去十年中，农村社区体重不足的患病率似乎有所下降，而发育迟缓的患病率下降幅度更大。当前营养不良问题的持续存在导致出现了一些孩子，他们的体重相对于“未发育迟缓”的身高来说过轻，从而导致本研究中发现的消瘦患病率明显较高。文中讨论了这些结果的影响。
