Nutritional status of children and adolescents of school age children from different ethnic groups in Rongshui, Guangxi / 中华健康管理学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate prevalence of nutritional status of children and adolescents of school age in the poor region with many ethnic groups of Western regions of China. Methods In September 2006, we performed a health check?up for 2 475 students of a primary school and a middle school from many ethnic groups in Rongshui, Guangxi; 1 163 boys (46.99%) and 1 362 girls (53.01%) participated in this study, including 4 main ethnic groups Han (848 participants, 34.26%), Miao (736 participants, 29.74%), Zhuang (415 participants, 16.77%) and Dong (341 participants, 13.78%), and prevalence of obesity and malnutrition for the population were surveyed. Results The prevalence rates of overweight among male and female children/adolescents of school age were 3.01%and 3.66%, respectively;and the prevalence rates of obesity were 1.55%and 0.76%, respectively. In 4 main ethnic groups of Han, Miao, Zhuang and Dong, the prevalence rates of overweight were 2.59%, 4.76%, 2.89% and 2.93%, respectively; while the prevalence rates of obesity were 1.89%, 0.27%, 0.96%and 1.17%, respectively. The prevalence rates of malnutrition among male and female children/adolescents of school age were 5.59%and 3.35%, respectively;while the prevalence rates of malnutrition in 4 main ethnic groups of Han, Miao, Zhuang and Dong were 6.96%, 2.17%, 5.54% and 2.64%, respectively. Conclusion The prevalence rates of overweight and obesity of children and adolescents of school age in Rongshui were relatively low, while the prevalence rates of malnutrition is similar to the average level of China.