Sexual dimorphism in growth pattern among the infants with respect to weight during the first year of life: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Background: The nutritional status of the infants is an important indicator to study the health and nutritional status of the population. Objectives: To study the growth pattern during infancy and to find out the causative factors for growth faltering among infants living in the rural areas of Paschim Medinipur district. Method: This community based longitudinal study was carried out from 2016-2018 in the rural villages of Kankabati Grampanchayat. Singleton live born babies, born during the first six months of the study period, and belonging to the low socioeconomic status, were included in this study. Multiple births, neonates with major congenital malformations and severe birth asphyxia, that might be associated with growth faltering of infants, were excluded from the study. The estimated sample size was 132. A pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire, based on demographic information, anthropometric data and history of morbidity, was prepared to collect information of each infant from the mothers/ caregivers. The birth weight of each infant was recorded from hospital discharge certificate. Subsequently, body weight was recorded every 30±2 days from the first month of life and thereafter longitudinally throughout infancy. Results: A total of 164 infants was included. The study showed that when the infants reached the age of 8 months, prevalence of underweight was ‘high’ (20–29%). Infants during the period of 9-12 months had ‘very high’ prevalence of underweight (≥30%). The binary regression analysis indicated that the sex of the neonate (Wald=4.178; p<0.05) was the more important predictor of underweight at 12 months of age than the birth weight (Wald=0.351; P>0.05). Conclusions: This longitudinal study on the weight pattern of the infants up to 12 months of age suggests that the male infants are likely to be underweight when they are nine months of age.