Nutritional status of Saudi Arab preschool children in the eastern province

Simple indices of nutrition status (height, weight, head circumference, mid‐upper arm circumference, triceps skinfold and hematocrit) were studied in a cross‐sectional group of 198 Saudi Arab children aged birth to five years attending the ARAMCO Hospital Clinic for well child care in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Severe protein‐energy malnutrition was rare, but mild undernutrition was highly prevalent, afflicting 35.4 percent of the children based on the Gomez Index. There were significant differences in nutritional status by age and sex, with female children over the age of 30 months being most at risk for low values of all anthropometric indices of nutritional status. Older children were more likely to have low hematocrit values than younger ones, but there was no difference in prevalence of anemia by sex.

Key words:

• growth
• preschool children
• nutritional status
• Saudi Arabia