Nutritional status of women aged 18-49 with children under 2 years old in Tam Duong district, Lai Chau province in 2018

Abstract

The objective of this study was to describe the nutritional status of mothers with children under 2 years old through body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage in some communes of Tam Duong district, Lai Chau province in 2018. The study was conducted in 420 women with children under 2 years old in Ban Giang, Ban Hon and Then Sin communes, Tam Duong district, Lai Chau province. The results of the study showed that the average weight of the study subjects was 49.8 ± 6.2 kg and the average body fat percentage was 28.8 ± 4.5. The proportion of study subjects with chronic energy deficiency was 14.0% and 15.2% of mothers had low body fat reserves; there was a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) in the proportion of chronic energy deficiency and overweight between the ages of the subjects. The group of mothers aged 35 - 49, the group with children aged 18 - 23 and the group with 3 or more children had the highest rates of chronic energy deficiency with rates of 22.9%, 18.2% and 17.6% respectively. The rate of study subjects with low fat reserves was highest in the group aged 35 - 49 (33.3%), the group with children aged 18 - 23 months (20.8) and the group with 3 or more children (22.4%). Further analytical studies are needed to determine the causes and factors related to this nutritional status in order to provide appropriate intervention solutions.