A study on the evaluation of the nutritional status and anthropometric characteristics of those WHO applied to A state Hospital Pediatrics Polyclinic in Hatay

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the nutritional status and nutritional problems of children aged 0-72 months who applied to the pediatric outpatient clinic of a state hospital in Altınözü district of Hatay province, which receives intense immigration and varies in terms of culture and education status. Materials and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional planned research; It was carried out at Hatay Altınözü State Hospital. The sample of the study consisted of children aged 0-72 months, who applied to the Child Polyclinic of the specified hospital. For the data, the mothers of the children who volunteered to participate in the study were interviewed. The sample size of unknown population was calculated as 385 with 50% prevalence, 95% confidence interval and 5% error. However, between November 2021 and February 2022, when the research was conducted, 300 children were included in the study (n=300). The rate of participation in the research was 77.9%. The data were collected face to face with data collection tools prepared in line with the literature. The data of the study are presented with descriptive statistics (number-percentage distribution, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, etc.) in SPSS 22.0 Windows program. Percentile calculations are calculated for height and weight according to age and gender. Results: While 15,3% of the mothers participating in the study evaluated their child as obese/overweight, it was found that 65,4% saw them as underweight. The rate of those who see the growth of their own child as the ideal child is 18,7%. The proportion of children with a birth weight of 2500 grams or less is 19%. The proportion of those whose height and weight percentile values were below 50% were found to be 57,7% and 61,7%, respectively. It was determined that 15,4% of the children under the age of 5 (n=235) within the scope of the study had malnutrition according to the upper arm circumference value. Conclusion: Children with growth retardation risks are at a high rate according to weight-height percentile values in 0-72 months old children in Altınözü district of Hatay province. It was found that mothers also evaluated their children as weak on visuals. Keywords: Child, anthropometric measurement, nutrition, malnutrition, nutrition, 0-72 months, upper arm circumference.