Effects of parental feeding practices on children s anemia in plateau area / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the effects of parental feeding practices on anemia in children aged 0-6 years in the minority area of the plateau, and to provide evidence for anemia intervention.@*Methods@#A total of 1 726 children aged 0-6 years in 4 counties of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture were selected by stratified random cluster sampling to measure hemoglobin level. Parental feeding practices were evaluated.@*Results@#The anemia prevalence rate among children aged 0-6 years was 50.3%. The prevalence of anemia was higher in those with younger age, Tibetan ethnic, rural residence, low parents education level and family income(χ2=156.95，899.51，148.17，8.18，16.36，11.03，P<0.05). Parentl awareness rates on feeding knowledge were 10.0%-53.7%. The report rates of distraction and force-feeding were 51.4% and 36.1%, respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that parents incorrect feeding knowledge and compulsive feeding behaviors were positively associated with anemia in children(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Improvement of parents health literacy and feeding behavior is an important intervention to reduce anemia in children aged 0-6 years.