Department of Pediatrics, Al-Sadaqa General Teaching Hospital, Aden, Yemen.
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Yemen.
East Mediterr Health J. 2019 Feb 18;24(12):1119-1126. doi: 10.26719/2018.24.12.1119.
Impaired nutritional status is a major health problem affecting young children in developing countries that has a significant impact on child morbidity and mortality.
This study aimed to assess the prevalence of undernutrition among children aged < 5 years, using conventional indices and the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF), and then comparing their estimated results.
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted and information was collected through house-tohouse visits using precoded structured records. We analysed data from 1292 children aged 6-59 months, from Ahwar and Al-Mahfed rural districts in Abyan Governate, South Yemen, with reference to the 2006 World Health Organization growth standards.
CIAF identified undernutrition in 70.1% of children, while conventional anthropometric indices revealed 38.5% stunting, 39.9% wasting, and 55.1% underweight. Compared with conventional indices, CIAF aggregate recognized 31.6%, 30.2% and 15% more undernourished children than stunting, wasting and underweight separately. According to CIAF, 21% had a single anthropometric failure and 49.2% exhibited multiple failures. Stunting Index, Wasting Index and Underweight Index were 0.55, 0.57 and 0.79, respectively.
CIAF gives a better estimate of undernutrition than currently used conventional indices; identifies more children with multiple anthropometric failures; and reflects a wider view of the extent and pattern of undernutrition of children living in communities with limited resource settings.
营养状况受损是发展中国家影响幼儿健康的一个主要问题，对儿童发病率和死亡率有重大影响。
本研究旨在使用传统指标和综合人体测量失败指数（CIAF）评估<5 岁儿童的营养不良患病率，并比较其估计结果。
进行了一项基于社区的横断面研究，通过家访使用预编码的结构化记录收集信息。我们分析了来自也门南部阿比扬省 Ahwar 和 Al-Mahfed 农村地区的 1292 名 6-59 个月大的儿童的数据，参考 2006 年世界卫生组织生长标准。
CIAF 确定 70.1%的儿童存在营养不良，而传统人体测量指标显示 38.5%的发育迟缓、39.9%的消瘦和 55.1%的体重不足。与传统指标相比，CIAF 综合指标分别识别出 31.6%、30.2%和 15%更多的发育迟缓、消瘦和体重不足儿童。根据 CIAF，21%的儿童存在单一人体测量失败，49.2%的儿童存在多种失败。发育迟缓指数、消瘦指数和体重不足指数分别为 0.55、0.57 和 0.79。
CIAF 比目前使用的传统指标更能准确估计营养不良情况；识别出更多存在多种人体测量失败的儿童；反映了在资源有限的社区中生活的儿童营养不良的程度和模式的更广泛观点。
