Stunting Status of Ever-Married Adolescent Mothers and Its Association with Childhood Stunting with a Comparison by Geographical Region in Bangladesh

Abstract

The adolescence period is considered a life stage worthy of strategic health investments since it is a critical period of physical and neuro-maturational development. Adolescent girls face different health difficulties in that phase of life. Children born to adolescent mothers are at a higher risk of undernutrition. This paper aims to estimate the prevalence of stunting among adolescent mothers and their children in Bangladesh by time period and determine the associated factors of adolescent maternal stunting status. We also sought to establish the relationship between maternal and childhood stunting by comparing the geographical regions in Bangladesh. We derived data from the nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, which was conducted between 2007 and 2017/18. The outcome variables of this study were ever-married adolescent girls’ stunting status and their children’s stunting status. Interaction analysis between administrative division and maternal stunting status was conducted with childhood stunting as the outcome variable to investigate the impact of maternal stunting status on their children’s stunting compared to geographical location. Our results indicated that in comparison to other divisions, the frequency of stunting among children and adolescent mothers was higher in the Sylhet region. It also revealed that children whose mothers were stunted had a 2.36 times increased chance of being stunted. Our study suggests that education for women could help them attain self-sufficiency and, as a result, reduce the prevalence of poor childhood nutrition, especially stunting.