Prevalence and Risk Factors of Stunting among Children Less than Five Years: a Community Based Study in North-Western Iran

Background: Children under five years are the primary victims of malnutrition. This study aimed to investigate risk factors of stunting among children less than 5 years in North-Western Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 3300 children under 5 years of the West Azerbaijan province. Selected households were visited by fifteen trained team. Collected data were consisted of name, date of birth, height, weight, sex, breastfeeding status, age, stunting status (Without stunting, moderate, severe), place of residence, care quality, completion of growth curve and knowledge of mothers about heath cares. Data were analyzed using STATA version 20. Chi-square, binary logistic and ordinal regression was used. Results: Of 3300 children, a total of 436 children (13.2%) had stunting (moderate: 302 children/severe: 134 children). The Mean weight, height, BMI, month of birth and breast feeding duration in children were 11.89±3.76, 86.26±15.05, 15.88±2.44, 6.23±3.47 and 4.13±5.20, respectively. Other qualitative variables were not homogenous (p