Growth and Nutritional Status of Less Privileged Urban Children in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT. The attained growth was assessed in a cross-sectional study of Saudi children 1–71 months of age, growing up in a less privileged area of Riyadh. Individual data on weight, height and weight for height were expressed in SD scores of the NCHS reference and those of triceps skinfold thickness in percent of the reference median. The mean (SD) weight, height and weight for height of the entire material were -0.9 (1.0), -0.8 (1.0), and -0.5 (0.9), respectively and the median tricpes skinfold was 90 percent of the reference median. When stratified by age groups the means were nearly identical with those of the reference populations in the 1–5 month age group. The mean weight and height were significantly below the reference means at 6–11 months, however. There was a similar decline in the mean weight for height and the median tricpes skinfold during the second year of life. The growth deficits of early life remained unchanged or increased slightly up to 6 years. According to WHO citeria, 14 percent of the children were classified as chronically and 3 percent as acutely undernourished. The faltering growth was different from that of privileged Saudi children whose growth pattern was found to resemble that of Western reference populations.