The Role Of Micronutrient Deficiencies In Growth Retardation Among Preschool -Aged Children"

Abstract

Background: Vitamin are the real culprits for the retardation of growth in kids during their pre-school going age. All of these defects negatively affect physical and mental development, raise susceptibility to infections, and contribute to malnutrition repetition. Its important to appreciated how they influence child health and how frequently they occur in order to develop appropriate strategies.
Objectives: To establish concurrent and independent correlations between poor growth in preschool aged children and micronutrient deficiencies that retard growth, it was necessary to undertake a study that would identify specific deficiencies that correlate with poor growth.
Study Design: A cross-sectional study.
Place and duration of study. the  Department of Pediatrics, Women and Children Hospital, Abbottabad. From july 2021 to Dec 2021
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used among 100 preschool aged children to determine their proportion stunting using height-for-age Z-scores. Serum levels of Iron, Zinc and vitamin A were estimated Blood samples were also taken to assess the nutritional status using 24 hour recall of food intake. Descriptive statistics were computed to establish the relationship between micronutrient levels and growth outcomes and the p-value tests of significance.
Results: The children mean age was 4.2 year ± 1.1 years. Out of the participants 65% of the participants had anaemia due to iron deficiency, 48% had a zinc deficiency and 34% had vitamin A deficiency. Deficiency of total height for age was < -2 z-minus in according to WHO in 42% of children. There were strong relationships between reference height and serum level of iron ( = 0.03) and zinc ( = 0.01) but the relationship between vitamin A deficiency and stunting was not statistically significant ( = 0.12).
Conclusion: Among children of preschool age, primary micronutrient deficiencies of iron and zinc contribute significantly to growth failure. These shortcomings could be effectively eliminated by nutritional intercessions that could to a great extent enhance growth characteristics and general Child health.