Association between parental feeding behavior and child anemia of Kazak preschool children in agricultural and pastoral areas of Xinjiang / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand parental feeding behavior and cognitive development among Kazak preschool children in agricultural and pastoral areas in Xinjiang, and to provide reference for anemia prevention in preschool children in this area.@*Methods@#In May 2019, a total of 1 846 Kazak preschool children were selected from the agricultural and pastoral areas of Xinjiang by stratified cluster sampling method, and parental feeding behavior and child anemia status were assessed.@*Results@#The detection rate of anemia in Kazak preschool children in agricultural and pastoral areas in Xinjiang was 49.19%, and the detection rates of mild and moderate anemia were 29.52% and 19.66%, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in the detection rate of anemia in preschool children in terms of age, father s education, mother s education, and family per capita income ( χ 2= 162.06 , 8.17, 16.86, 11.14, P <0.05); There were statistically significant differences in the types of complementary food, nutritional anemia, breastfeeding time, and whether or not to force feeding ( χ 2=6.33, 8.91, 4.06, 21.55, P ＜0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that parents unclear about the type of complementary food ( OR=1.36, 95%CI =1.09-1.68), nutritional anemia ( OR=1.38, 95%CI =1.08-1.77), feeding time less than 24 months or unawareness ( OR=1.46, 95%CI =1.01-2.11) and forced feeding ( OR=1.42, 95%CI =1.13-1.78) were positively correlated with the detection rate of anemia in preschool children ( P < 0.05 ).@*Conclusion@#Kazak preschool children in agricultural and pastoral areas in Xinjiang have severe anemia. There is a relationship between parental feeding behavior and children s anemia, which warrants further efforts to improve preschool children s anemia.