Growth and Nutritional Status of Less Privileged Urban Children in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The attained growth was assessed in a cross‐sectional study of Saudi children 1–71 months of age, growing up in a less privileged area of Riyadh. Individual data on weight, height and weight for height were expressed in SD scores of the NCHS reference and those of triceps skinfold thickness in percent of the reference median. The mean (SD) weight, height and weight for height of the entire material were ‐0.9 (1.0), ‐0.8 (1.0), and ‐0.5 (0.9), respectively and the median tricpes skinfold was 90 percent of the reference median. When stratified by age groups the means were nearly identical with those of the reference populations in the 1–5 month age group. The mean weight and height were significantly below the reference means at 6–11 months, however. There was a similar decline in the mean weight for height and the median tricpes skinfold during the second year of life. The growth deficits of early life remained unchanged or increased slightly up to 6 years. According to WHO citeria, 14 percent of the children were classified as chronically and 3 percent as acutely undernourished. The faltering growth was different from that of privileged Saudi children whose growth pattern was found to resemble that of Western reference populations.

Brucellosis in Pediatric Patients: A Review of 114 Cases from Asir Region

“…In contrast to adults we were unable to demonstrate any significant difference between the two sexes [1,3]. A significant degree of malnutrition has been reported to be present in about 12% to 14% of less privileged urban and 12% to 41% of rural preschool children of Saudi Arabia [7,8]. Over one-third of the patients were subcentile in their weight suggesting a significant recent weight loss and/or presence of a pre-illness state of undernutrition; an association between undernutrition and infection susceptibility in children is well known [6].…”

Socio-economic differences in height and body mass index of children and adults living in urban areas of Karachi, Pakistan

“…There is considerable heterogeneity in poverty, morbidity, mortality and nutritional status in urban areas, with often enormous differentials between poor and the middle-to high-income parts of a particular city. Major socio-economic differentials in child health and mortality have been reported within the urban sector of Ghana (Rikimaru et al, 1998), Guatemala (Engle, 1993), Ethiopia (Getaneh et al, 1998), Brazil (Gross & Monterio, 1989), Nepal (Martorell et al, 1984), Malawi (Quinn et al, 1995), Bangladesh (Ahmed et al, 1991;Quinn et al, 1995) and Saudi Arabia (Serenius & Swailem, 1988).…”

Growth of preterm infants

“…No entanto, é sabido que, no decorrer do 1º ano de vida, tais condições, típicas de populações de países menos desenvolvidos, delimitam a dinâmica do crescimento. 27 Como observamos neste trabalho, estes apresentam um bom prognóstico quando em ambiente adequado, atingindo condições de crescimento semelhantes às dos recém-nascidos a termo num tempo relativamente rápido.…”