LOW BIRTH WEIGHT AND INAPPROPRIATE FEEDING VARIATION CAUSED NUTRITIONAL DISORDERS BASED ON THE COMPOSITE INDEX OF ANTHROPOMETRIC FAILURE (CIAF)

Abstract

Nutritional disorders in children apart from causing morbidity and death also cause diseases that can be inherited. Early detection by measuring a child’s growth regularly is one way of prevention and early treatment. One way to detect growth failure is to use the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) by specifying and combining various growth failures that occur so the risks are easier to predict. This research aims to find the determinants of nutritional disorders based on CIAF. This research is a descriptive-analytical study with a cross-sectional approach which was carried out for 10 months starting from January until October 2024 in Belitung Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands Province. The sample in this study consisted of 198 children aged 6 months to 5 years old. Samples were taken using a simple random sampling technique. Children will be examined to obtain weight and height data and then their nutritional status will be categorized based on the WHO 2006 graph. The questionnaires contain questions about parental characteristics, the child’s birth weight, parents’ height, family economics, family awareness about nutrition (regularly weighing children, exclusive breastfeeding, iodized salt, appropriate feeding variation, supplements during pregnancy and childhood), and clean and healthy living behavior (delivery assisted by health workers, exclusive breastfeeding, regularly weighing children, washing hand behavior, healthy latrines, eliminating mosquito larvae, appropriate feeding variation, physical activity, and smoking behavior). The results of the study showed that almost half of the respondents (40.4%) experienced growth failure. None of the characteristics of children and parents has a significant relationship with growth failure. Childbirth weight had a difference between children with growth failure and normal (p=0.048) as well as variations in the feeding menu had a significant relationship with stunting (p=0.009). Furthermore, other determinants tested such as mother’s height (p=0.318), father’s height (p=0.213), family income (p=1.000), and the indicators of family awareness about nutrition (p=0.438), and clean and healthy living behavior (p=1.000) were not proven to have a statistically significant relationship. Low birth weight is related to the incidence of growth failure in children and variation in feeding menu has a significant relationship with stunting.