title: Assessment of health and nutritional status of infants in relation to breast feeding practices in Karmouz area, Alexandria.
abstract: Infants are most precious part of nation's life. Infant health is a reflection of the health of the mother and it gives an indication of the health of the adult population of the future. The present work was designed to study the health and nutritional status of infants in Karmouz area in Alexandria as well as the effect of breast feeding practices on the health status of infants. Accordingly, a house to house survey was conducted through cluster sampling technique. The total sample amounted to 396 mothers and 409 infants. Data were collected about infants health status and their feeding practices. Weight and length were measured for all infants. Stool samples were collected and examined. The results revealed that 55.3% of infants had acute respiratory tract infections (ARI); 16.4% had bronchitis and 4.9% had pneumonia, 44% of the infants suffered from diarrhea, 13.2% were infected with parasites, Gardia lamblia was the most commonly found parasite (9.0%). High proportion of infants was found to be stunted (22.7%), 8.6% were wasted and 7.6% were underweight, 40.3% of mothers were in partial practice level. Infants below six months of age who received solid foods at three months or less had a significantly higher percentage of diarrhea (70.6%) compared to 51.5% among those of late weaning (four months or later). The diarrhea was significantly more common among infants aged 12 - < 18 months with about two times of risk relative to those aged < 6 months. A significantly higher risk of diarrhea was found for infants of bottle--or complementary feeding (OR = 2.05, 2.07 respectively, model X2 = 9.71, P < 0.01), in addition the protective effect of breast feeding persisted after adjustment of confounders by multiple logistic regression. High proportion of mothers (63.8%) continued to breast-feed their babies during diarrheal episodes. On the other hand breast-feeding was not significantly protective against the acute respiratory tract infection. Stunting of the infants increases rapidly with age from 12.6% among infants under six months to 30.4% among those aged from 9 - < 12 months. The percentage of stunted infants varied greatly by education of the mothers, it was doubled from 14.7% among those of mothers of high level of education to 28.9% of non educated mothers with a significant high risk of 2.31 times. The repeated attacks of diarrhea throughout the two years of life was still significantly associated with stunting even after adjustment of confounders by multiple logistic regression;, those with three attacks or more had about three times of risk relative to those without the disease (OR = 2.56, 95% CL = 1.12-5.81, model X2 = 19.03, P < 0.01). Health education program should be emphasized to all mothers to improve their knowledge and practice about breast-feeding and its importance in prevention of diarrhea.
authors.affiliation: Tropical Health Department (Primary Health Care), High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Deghedi
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Mahdy
authors.forename: el-A H
authors.initials: el-AH
authors.lastname: Abd
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003968:Diarrhea, Infantile / Q000453:epidemiology; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D006266:Health Education; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D007229:Infant Welfare; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010272:Parasitic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data