Abstract
631 immigrant school children were studied in conjunction with the San Francisco Newcomer Schools; Chinese, Hispanic and Filipino/S.E. Asian. Nutritional status and food habits of the children and families were assessed. The pilot phase consisted of questionnaires administered to parents, food intake information, and anthropometric and dental examinations. A subset of the smallest and largest children was selected for laboratory and physical examination based on weight per height and height per age. The survey revealed stunting in all three groups, 33% of the children from the Filipino school were below the 5th per-centile of the NCHS standards for height per age but 13% and 16% of the Hispanic and Chinese children were in this category. Less than 3% revealed minimal acute wasting. 8.2% of the Hispanic children were above the 95th percentile of weight per height. During the first 6 months, there was an increase in height per age (Z score) relative to the reference group. 61% of the children required dental treatment. Children in the subset gave histories of nutritional deprivation prior to migration; physical examinations and blood analyses revealed no significant abnormalities. 64% of the subset had at least one parasite; 80% in the Chinese school and 36% in the Filipino School. 52% of the subset had serious dental disease versus 33% in the normal group. This work was supported in part by grants from the San Francisco Foundation and the U.S.D.A.
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Echenberg, D., Freimer, N., Jackson, R. et al. NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND GROWTH IN NEW-IMMIGRANT SCHOOL CHILDREN (K-6). Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 182 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00535
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00535