ABSTRACT. The patterns of breastfeeding and weaning were studied in 4 groups of Saudi children: Privileged urban children; children representing the average urban population; less privileged urban children, and rural children from 3 different areas. The data represented retrospective and actual information and were analyzed according to the life table technique. The median duration of breastfeeding of rural, urban low, urban average and urban privileged children was 17.8 months, 10.8 months, 7.5 months and 2.1 months, respectively. In all groups the rate of breastfeeding was lower in young compared with old mothers. Thus the median duration of breastfeeding was 11.7 months for rural mothers <23 years and 23.6 months for mothers >31 years. Corresponding figures for urban low mothers were 3.4 months and 11.4 months, respectively. By one month 52 percent of privileged and 42 percent of urban low children were started on bottle. By contrast, 26 percent of rural children were started on bottle at 6 months, At 6 months, 6 percent of rural children were started on any kind of solid foods compared with 90 percent of privileged children; at 12 months the figures were 33 and 96 percent, respectively. The data indicated a successive decline in the duration of breastfeeding with increasing affluence, and late introduction of weaning foods to rural children.

Mothers who delivered in a large Maternity hospital and who represented a large proportion of the obstetric population in Riyadh are described. The mothers were characterized by a high material standard of living, by adequate energy reserves at confinement, by a low rate of pregnancy complications and preterm birth, and by the absence of smoking and of hard physical work during pregnancy. The mothers were also, however, characterized by pregnancies occurring at the extremes of the reproductive age, by short birth intervals, by short maternal stature, by low educational attainment, by poor utilization of antenatal services and by a high rate of previous infant loss, that is by characteristics previously found to consitute riskfactors for adverse perinatal outcome.

ABSTRACT. The attained growth was assessed in a cross‐sectional study of Saudi children 1–71 months of age, growing up in a less privileged area of Riyadh. Individual data on weight, height and weight for height were expressed in SD scores of the NCHS reference and those of triceps skinfold thickness in percent of the reference median. The mean (SD) weight, height and weight for height of the entire material were ‐0.9 (1.0), ‐0.8 (1.0), and ‐0.5 (0.9), respectively and the median tricpes skinfold was 90 percent of the reference median. When stratified by age groups the means were nearly identical with those of the reference populations in the 1–5 month age group. The mean weight and height were significantly below the reference means at 6–11 months, however. There was a similar decline in the mean weight for height and the median tricpes skinfold during the second year of life. The growth deficits of early life remained unchanged or increased slightly up to 6 years. According to WHO citeria, 14 percent of the children were classified as chronically and 3 percent as acutely undernourished. The faltering growth was different from that of privileged Saudi children whose growth pattern was found to resemble that of Western reference populations.

ABSTRACT. The time, cause and avoidahility of perinatal deaths were analyzed in infants who were delivered in the main Maternity hospital in Riyadh and who represented a large proportion of all births in the city. The crude perinatal mortality rate was 39.8 per 1000 births. Of all deaths 53 percent occurred either intrapartum or within 24 hours of birth. The mortality rate in this time period was 9 times higher, and the intrapartum mortality rate 16 times higher than the corresponding Swedish rates. The causes of death were classified according to Wigglesworth. Of all deaths, 37 percent were due to asphyxial conditions in labor, 32 percent to conditions associated with preterm birth, and 17 percent to malformations. The perinatal mortality rates caused by asphyxia, preterm birth and malformations were 14.7, 12.6 and 6.7 per 1000 births, respectively. 75 percent of infants who died from asphyxia were born at term, and nearly half of the preterm deaths were associated with severe asphyxia at birth. Avoidable factors were found in 74 percent of the deaths. The high rate of asphyxia indicated deficiences in the obstetric management and a high priority should be given to the strengthening of the obstetric service.

The nutritional status of 337 preschool children (aged 0-5) living in two rural Saudi villages was assessed by clinical examination and measuring weight-for-age, weight-for-height and height-for-age. Only 39.2 percent were found to have normal weight-for-age. The weight-for-height was normal in 76.3 percent, whereas 33.7 percent were considered as wasted (weight-for-height less than 90 percent of standard). Wasting was commonest among the 12-23 months age group. Almost 60 percent had height-for-age less than 95 percent of standard (stunted). The percentage of stunted children increased with age. combining wasting and stunting, only 31 percent were labelled as normal and 0.9 percent had severe malnutrition and needed hospitalization, whereas the rest needed some nutritional intervention. Ignorance and infection rather than poverty played the major role in the aetiology of malnutrition in the villages studied.