Status and influencing factors of growth and development among rural left-behind children in Hunan province

Objective To investigate the status and related influencing factors of growth and development among rural left-behind children under 7 years old in Hunan province.Methods Stratified cluster sampling method was used to select 695 rural left-behind children and 592 controls for a questionnaire survey and physical measurement.Results The incidence rates were 18.7% and 16.4% for growth retardation,2.0% and 2.2% for underweight,3.7% and 2.9% for overweight,and 3.7% and 2.9% for obesity,respectively,among the left-behind and control children,with no significant differences between the two groups(P>0.2 for all).The rate of anemia in left-behind children(33.4%)was significantly higher than that of the control(26.0%,χ²=8.265;P=0.004).The results of multivariate logistic regression analyses suggested that high birth weight,without particlar food in diet,big family size,with mothers of high education were positively related to high weight-for-height Z score;mothers at older age and longer time working out of the home were negatively related with weight-for-heigth Z score.The children with fathers working out of home for long time had high height-for-age Z scores and those children with high birth weight,living scattered,and mothers of higher education also had high weight-for-age Z scores.But the children with mothers at older age had low weight-for-age Z scores.ConclusionGrowth retardation is the major problem for rural left-behind children in Hunan province.With mothers at older age or working out of home for long time and giving less care to their children affect the growth of the children.