title: Malnutrition, overweight, and obesity among urban and rural children in north of west Azerbijan, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Malnutrition is one of the most important causes for improper physical and mental development of children. Childhood obesity is a worldwide public health problem. The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity has become a growing matter of public health concern worldwide. The aim of the current study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and obesity in children under 5 years old in Salmas district.
  
  
  METHODS
  The current study is a cross-sectional study conducted on 902 of children under 5 years old to assess the nutritional status in Salmas district and performed from 16 until 30 October, 2011, with the cooperation of the Office of Community Nutrition Improvement and the United Nations Children's Fund. ENA (Emergency Nutrition Assessment) and Spss software were used for data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  49.6% of children were boys and 50.4% were girls. The prevalence of malnutrition based on underweight, stunting, and wasting was estimated to be 2.3%, 7.3%, and 1.4% among children, respectively. Stunting was more common in rural areas and this difference was significant (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this area stunting, overweight and obesity were the most important priorities that health officials must pay more attention to. ENA software has a special ability to determine the samples and clusters and is a simple, rapid, and accurate method, especially in epidemiological studies in the country, and can be a convenient tool and its use is suggested for the same studies.
authors: Food and Beverages Safety Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Science, Urmia, Iran.
authors: Sakineh
authors: S
authors: Nouri Saeidlou
authors: Urmia University of Medical Science, Urmia, Iran.
authors: Fariba
authors: F
authors: Babaei
authors: Food and Beverages Safety Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Science, Urmia, Iran.
authors: Parvin
authors: 0000-0002-0006-013X
authors: P
authors: Ayremlou
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014505:Urban Population