Investigation Of The Nutritional Status And Its Effective Factors Of The Rural Left-behind School-children In Hanchuan City

Objective: To understand the nutrition status of rural left-behind school-children inHanchuan city and explore its effective factors, in order to provide scientific basis fordeveloping targeted strategies and measures to improve the trophic status of ruralleft-behind school-children.Methods: All students of Grade4~6were selected from two rural central primaryschools in Hanchuan city as investigation objects by cluster sampling method includingleft-behind children and non-left-behind children. The dietary nutrition intakes of allstudents were obtained by a modified3consecutive24-hour recalls, and physicalmeasurements and blood biochemical examination were carried out at the same time.By using a questionary, the family status of left-behind students and the nutritionknowledge-attitude-practice (KAP) level of school-children guardian were surveyed.Results: The study surveyed515rural students included248left-behind children and267non-left-behind children. There were many problems exited in rural left-behindschool-children. The dietary nutrition intakes were not ideal in left-behind students witha veggie-riched diet structure in which the animal food and the bean and bean productswere defect. The rates of inadequate intake of energy and protein were62.9%and73.8%respectively, and the calorie intake from dietary fat only accounted for14.2%oftotal energy source and the ratio of breakfast was22.5%in three meals a day of theenergy distribution ratio. Furthermore, the intakes of micronutrients such as calcium,zinc and vitamin A were also insufficient and all those inadequate percentages havereached more than80%. But compared with non-left-behind children, no significantstatistical differences between them except that the intakes of dietary iron and zinc inleft-behind children were obviously more than that of non-left-behind children (P<0.05).Besides, the incidence rates of growth retardation, athrepsy, overweight and obesitywere2.8%,12.9%,9.7%and4.4%, respectively, and the detection rates of anemia andzinc deficiency were19.8%and36.3%. Compared with non-left-behind children, noneof those above indicators revealed statistical differences. Through multivariate logisticregression analysis, the protective factors of left-behind children nutrition includedchildren’s gender (female), children’s nutrition KAP score, caregiver’s occupation(workers, merchants or farmers), caregiver’s nutrition KAP score and family monthly gross incomes. On the other hand, children’s age was found as a risk factors.Conclusion: The nutrition and health status of rural students were unoptimistic both inleft-behind children and none-left-behind children, had many kinds of problems such asunreasonable intakes of energy and various dietary nutrients, increasingly prominentphenomena of overweight and obesity and the epidemic of traditional deficiency disease.The nutrition and health status of left-behind school-children was influenced by manyfactors. Nutrition promotion activities should be developed actively, especially focus onimproving the nutrition cognitive level of school-children and their caregivers, and boyclose to puberty, caregivers under different occupational background and family withlower economic condition should be viewed as main objects to construct a“social-family-children trinity” intervention model of mass participation.