A survey on nutritional status among infants at ages of 6 to 24 months / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the nutritional status and examine its association with feeding among infants at ages of 6 to 24 months in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, so as to provide the evidence for improving malnutrition among infants.@*Methods@#Infants at ages of 6 to 24 months participating in physical examinations in Urumqi City and Moyu County from January to December 2021 were enrolled. Participants' gender, age, birth status, place of residence and maternal education level were collected through questionnaire surveys, and infants' feeding was evaluated using Infant and Child Feeding Index (ICFI). Age-specific height and body weight and height-specific body weight were calculated, and nutritional status was evaluated using Z score. The association between ICFI and malnutrition was evaluated using a multivariable logistic regression model.@*Results @#A total of 1 013 infants were surveyed, including 557 boys (54.99%) and 456 girls (45.01%). The participants included 545 infants at ages of 12 to 24 months (53.80%), 969 full-term infants (95.66%), and 617 infants with qualified ICFI scores (60.91%). The prevalence of malnutrition was 8.59% among participants. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that infants with qualified ICFI score had a lower risk of malnutrition (OR=0.538, 95%CI 0.327-0.883) after adjustment for age, birth status, place of residence, maternal education level and monthly household income.@*Conclusion@#The prevalence of malnutrition is low among infants at ages of 6 to 24 months in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and infants with qualified feeding have a reduced risk of malnutrition.