Influence of mothers' characteristics on their perceptions and use of the growth chart

Although growth charts are recommended for monitoring children, recent reports indicate poor use by mothers. We investigated maternal knowledge and perceptions of growth charts and identified characteristics affecting use. At outpatient paediatric clinics of a Riyadh hospital, 305 mothers with children under age 5 were interviewed by questionnaire during May-June 2001. Overall awareness of growth charts was 35.8% and ever-use was 8.6%. Education, parity and number of living children were significantly associated with knowledge. Among mothers who ever used growth charts [8.7%], only 10% reported doctors recommended changes in health care because of them. Overall, 71% wanted to monitor their child's growth, but 20% did not know how. Increased health education in all health care delivery systems is needed

growth pattern of school children in Saudi Arabia

A cross-sectional study of schoolchildren in Saudi Arabia was carried out to determine their health status. The sample was selected using a multistage stratified sampling technique and anthropometric measurements were taken. The growth charts of height for age, and weight by age were constructed and smoothed by the spline regression polynomial technique. The study showed that Saudi boys and girls have similar growth patterns to their American counterparts. However, they were retarded by less than one standard deviation compared with the National Council of Health Statistics standards. Schoolboys and girls with normal weight and height for age constitute about 58% and 53% respectively of the total sample. Overweight and obesity were more frequent in girls than in boys