WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Saad Hussein Hammo1*, Zubair Aziz Gerdo2 and Zakarea Ibrahim Ismael Sheet3

ABSTRACT

Background:Stunting, caused by persistent malnutrition, it is a major global issue that hinders human growth.Stunted children are defined as having a height for age z score that is less than two standard deviations below theWHO Child Growth Standards median for children of the same age and sex. Objectives: Is to assess the riskfactors of stunting among children aged less than five in Mosul City Iraq. Methods: The study is a descriptive, case control study. It was conducted between the 11th of September 2023 to the end of March 2025 at Mosul General Hospital, Talafar General hospital and Al Wafa’a Endocrine specialized center in Mosul. The questionnaire was divided into three parts. The first section provides demographic information about the study participants, including their age, gender and residence. The second section for the presence of supplemental feeding and child’s access to health facility. The third part for mother’s educational level, and family’s socio-economic state. Resu lts : The study included 400 patients, of them 128 patients with stunting (cases) and 272patients with normal weight (controls) and presented for other causes. Moreover; 207 (51.75%) patients are malesand 193 (48.25%) patients are females, with male to fe male ratio of 1.07:1. Furthermore; 35 (8.75%) patients agedless than 1 year, 81 (20.25%) patients aged 1 2 years, 87 (21.75%) patients aged 2 3 years, 96 (24%) patients aged3 4 years and 101 (25.25%) patients aged less than 5 years. The mean age of the s tudy participants was 3.88 ±1.01 years. It’s evident that patients with stunting are statistically significant difference (P value 0.023) regardingpoor socio economic state. From the other hand; patients age 2 3, 3 4 and less than 5, patients’ mother of lowereducational levels, those of rural residency and poor socio economic state are shown in statistically riskyassociation. No statistically significant difference a nd no statically significant association regarding patients’genders, supplementary food intake, child accessory to health facility, mothers; ages, educational levels andoccupation. Conclusion: This study indicates that the age of the child, the mother's educational level, the child'sresidency and poverty are the main factors contributing to stunting in Mosul City children under five. Stunting inMosul City can be decreased by increase mothers' understanding of nutrition, parenting, and health issues forchildren under five.