Introduction

The prevalence of malnutrition in Mexico has remained higher in the national rural population than in urban areas. The growth pattern published by the WHO in 2006 confirms that children ≤5 years have the same growth potential if living conditions are optimal, being some factors associated to malnutrition, so the objective of the study was to determine if there is an association between the demographic-socioeconomic factors with nutritional status in rural populations of Colima.

Material and Methods

Design: cross sectional. We included 72 children ≤5 years (34 male gender; 38 female) from the villages of Suchitlán, Cofradía de Suchitlán and Zacualpan (2015, AprilJune). Measurements of weight and height were taken and a questionnaire of demographicsocioeconomic factors was applied to the parents. The indicators weight-for-age, height-forage, weight-for-height and BMI-for-age were calculated. A questionnaire of demographic and socioeconomic factors was applied and the statistical analysis was carried out using χ2 or Fisher’s exact to find associations between nutritional status and socioeconomic or demographic factors.

Results

The prevalence of chronic malnutrition was 25%, acute malnutrition 2.8% and overweight or obesity 11.2%. It was associated being an only child with overweight/obesity (p=0.016) and breastfeeding with chronic malnutrition (p=0.014).

Conclusions

Being an only child was identified as a risk factor for the development of overweight/ obesity and breastfeeding with the presence of chronic malnutrition.

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