Indicators of nutritional status in Turkish preschool children: Results of Turkish Demographic and Health Survey 1993

The Turkish Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS), conducted in 1993, provided data on the magnitude of malnutrition in a sample of 3152 preschool children from five geographical regions, and on its causal and conditioning factors. Stunting was found to be the dominant form of malnutrition (21 per cent). Altogether 10 per cent of children were underweight and 3 per cent were wasted. There were urban-rural (16 v. 27 per cent, P<0.001) and regional differences (highest in the East 38 per cent, lowest in the West and North 10 and 14 per cent, respectively; P<0.001) in the rate of stunting. Among the most important conditioning factors were too early introduction of supplementary foods, mother's educational level, mother's work area, person who takes care of children while mother is at work, birth rank of children, birth spacing, number of children in an individual family, family size, and mother's welfare and hygiene indices. The need for an intersectoral approach for the development of remedial programs to reduce the effect of these factors and for periodic assessment of nutritional status of preschool children is stressed.