Nutrition interventions improved linear growth in children under five with pre-stunting, stunting, and severe stunting in Surabaya, Indonesia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Stunting and severe stunting prevalence in Surabaya reached 28.9% in 2021, and dropped to 4.8% in 2022. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a 6–12-month nutrition-specific intervention on children with pre-stunting, stunting, and severe stunting in five public health centers in Surabaya. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This pre-post observational study used a record of 111 pre-stunting, stunting, and severe stunting children under 5 years old in five public health centers in Surabaya, Indonesia, from January to December 2023. The children were given nutrition-specific interventions, including adequate food consumption. Demographics and anthropometric data before and after intervention were analyzed using univariate and bivariate analyses with IBM® SPSS® for Windows® version 26.0. RESULTS: Of 111 study participants, 54.9% were females, and 45.1% were males; 39.6% were children with pre-stunting, 35.1% were children with stunting, and 25.2% were children with severe stunting. There was a significant increase in body weight and height after than before nutritional intervention in all groups (P < 0.001). The body weight improvement was 0.1 ± 0.2, 0.1 ± 0.2, and 0.2 ± 0.3 kg/month in pre-stunting, stunting, and severe stunting children, respectively. The height improvement was 0.6 ± 0.3, 0.7 ± 0.9, and 0.9 ± 1.2 cm/month in pre-stunting, stunting, and severe stunting children, respectively. The significant increase in weight-for-age was only in the severe stunting group, while the increase in height-for-age was observed in the pre-stunting and severe stunting groups (P < 0.001). In total, 36.4%, 33.3%, and 75.0% of children from pre-stunting, stunting, and severe stunting groups, respectively, improved their height-for-age in the 6–12-month follow-up intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The nutrition interventions statistically significant improved the linear growth of pre-stunting and stunting children under 5 years old in Surabaya, Indonesia.