Objective: To analyze the changing trend of children's malnutrition and anemia rate in Taicang City, Jiangsu Province from 2009 to 2015.
Methods: Data of medical examination on children under 3 was retrived from Electronic Health Care Records in Taicang, Jiangsu, and children's malnutrition and anemia rates were assessed based on WHO children's growth standard in 2006 and anemia diagnosis standard in 2001. The differences of children's malnutrition and anemia rates from 2009 to 2015 were analyzed based on the data. The Mantel-Haenszel Estimation Method was used to standardize themalnutrition rate and the anemia rate. Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square test was used to compare the differences of count data.
Results: The average WAZ, HAZ and WHZ scores were 0. 51, 0. 23 and 0. 56, and the average rates of low weight, stunting, wasting, overweight and obesity were 0. 65%, 1. 54%, 0. 56%, 6. 37% and 1. 03%, respectively. The rates of low weight, wasting, overweight and obesity remained stable from 2009 to 2015. The overweight rate increased from 5. 84% in 2009 to 6. 99% in2012, and dropped to 6. 12% in 2015( MH χ~2= 5. 41, P < 0. 05). The boys had a higher malnutrition rate than the girls, and the migrant children had worse conditions in stunting, overweight and obesity than local children. The anemia rate in children under 3 declined from 24. 02% in 2009 to 9. 25% in 2015( Cochran-Armitage Z = 29. 41, P < 0. 05). The boys had a higher anemia rate than the girls, and the local children had a higher anemia rate than the migrant children.
Conclusion: The growth status of children under 3 in Taicang from 2009 to 2015 is better than the WHO reference standards. The overweight rates increase from 2009 to 2012 and decline from 2012 to 2015. The anemia rate in children decline from 2009 to 2015. This study indicates that controlling the high overweight rate and high anemia rate in young children under 3 are two predominating working directions in Taicang, Jiangsu.
Keywords: anemia; growth and development; malnutrition.