Incidence of malnutrition in children aged 0-6 years in Sivas, an eastern province of Turkey.

ABSTRACT

Malnutrition grades of 1000 children were established by various anthropometric measures in Sivas area. The general malnutrition rate was 30.5% according to weight for age, 27.7% for weight for height and 33.7% for mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) to head circumference (HC) ratio. The rates of severe malnutrition were noted to be low (1.8-2.2%) when using these criteria. Malnutrition in the 0-3 month babies was misleading, when measurement were solely based on the MUAC/HC ratio.