Maternal Characteristics Determine Stunting in Children of Less than Five Years of Age Results from a National Probabilistic Survey

Abstract

Background: Maternal nutrition and some variables are the main determining factors of birthweight and delayed intrauterine growth of children. Objective: To explore the association between the mothers’ biological and sociodemographic characteristics, and the anthropometry status in children under fi ve years of age. Design: The population consisted of a sub-sample of 1,047 mother-and-child selected pairs from the probabilistic National Nutrition Survey, carried out in Mexico. Mother-and-child pairs included mothers aged 12 to 49 years, with children under fi ve years of age. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, obstetric history, 24-hour recall dietary intake, and the women and children’s anthropometry were collected. The association between maternal characteristics and children’s anthropometry status was assessed using multiple logistic regression models. Result: Nearly 16.7% of the children ?5y of age were stunted (13.5% ? 2y and 18.8% ? 2y). The height/age of the chil- dren was severely affected by maternal height and birth order. In addition, the interaction between socioeconomic level and maternal schooling had a marginal effect (p = 0.09) in the ?2y group. On the other hand, whether the family received social services and the interaction between maternal height and a dichotomy urbanism variable were signifi cant ( p = 0.05) and (p ? 0.01) respectively in ?2y group. Conclusion: Some biological and socioeconomic characteristics among mothers have a negative effect on their children’s attained size, especially in the period between 2 and 5 years of age. Keywords: national survey, stunting, malnutrition in children, maternal characteristics Introduction