Home About us Editorial board Search Ahead of print Current issue Archives Submit article Instructions Subscribe Contacts Login 


 
 Table of Contents  
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Year : 2019  |  Volume : 32  |  Issue : 4  |  Page : 1512

Prevalence of stunted growth in children under 5 years of age in Qalyubia Governorate


Department of Paediatrics, Al-Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

Date of Submission01-Jun-2018
Date of Decision19-Jun-2018
Date of Acceptance24-Jul-2018
Date of Web Publication31-Dec-2019

Correspondence Address:
Mahmood D Al-Mendalawi
Department of Paediatrics, Al-Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad Post Office, P.O. Box 55302, Baghdad
Iraq
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/mmj.mmj_194_18

Rights and Permissions

How to cite this article:
Al-Mendalawi MD. Prevalence of stunted growth in children under 5 years of age in Qalyubia Governorate. Menoufia Med J 2019;32:1512

How to cite this URL:
Al-Mendalawi MD. Prevalence of stunted growth in children under 5 years of age in Qalyubia Governorate. Menoufia Med J [serial online] 2019 [cited 2024 Mar 28];32:1512. Available from: http://www.mmj.eg.net/text.asp?2019/32/4/1512/274229




  Body Top


I read with interest the study by Farahat et al. [1] on the prevalence of stunted growth in children less than 5-year old attending a primary healthcare in Qalyubia Governorate, Egypt. The authors found that the prevalence of stunted growth was 13.32% and it was significantly associated with the age of children (stunting was more in children aged < 24 months) (P = 0.005), socioeconomic level (P = 0.004), family history of short stature (P < 0.05), family size of more than five (P = 0.004), and low hemoglobin level (P < 0.001) [1]. I presume that these results ought to be cautiously taken owing to the presence of the following methodological limitation. It is obvious that in the clinical field, there are many growth charts used to measure anthropometric parameters in children. These include WHO charts, Center for Disease Control charts, and country-specific charts. Comparing the use of other charts to the use of the country-specific growth charts suggested that the latter might describe the growth of children more precisely [2],[3]. Supporting that notion, it has been found that there was significant differences between sexes regarding the growth of children on using Egyptian growth charts compared with Center for Disease Control charts [4]. It is good to know that Farahat et al. [1] used the National Egyptian Growth Chart 2002 to estimate the growth of the studied pediatric cohort. However, it is worth mentioning that Egyptian Growth Charts 2002 used by Farahat et al. [1] was constructed more than a decade ago and it is not more precise in the clinical field and researches. It would be prudent to construct new Egyptian charts. I presume that if such charts have been constructed and used, the results of the study might be altered.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.



 
  References Top

1.
Farahat TM, Ragab S, Salama AA, Abdel El Halim HN. Prevalence of stunted growth in children less than 5-year old in Qualyoubia governorate. Menoufia Med J 2017; 30:1089–1092.  Back to cited text no. 1
    
2.
Ziegler EE, Nelson SE. The WHO growth standards: strengths and limitations. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2012; 15:298–302.  Back to cited text no. 2
    
3.
Natale V, Rajagopalan A. Worldwide variation in human growth and the World Health Organization growth standards: a systematic review. BMJ Open 2014; 4:e003735.  Back to cited text no. 3
    
4.
Mohammad HA, Ahmed ES, GadAllah MA, Monazea EM. Underweight and short stature among Upper Egypt school children using national and international growth charts. IOSR J Nurs Health Sci 2016; 5:87–92.  Back to cited text no. 4
    




 

Top
 
 
  Search
 
Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
Access Statistics
Email Alert *
Add to My List *
* Registration required (free)

 
  In this article
Body
References

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed905    
    Printed25    
    Emailed0    
    PDF Downloaded93    
    Comments [Add]    

Recommend this journal


[TAG2]
[TAG3]
[TAG4]