Different forms of malnutrition among under five children in Bangladesh: a cross sectional study on prevalence and determinants

Abstract

Background: This empirical study investigated the extent of malnutrition and factors associated with malnutrition amid children aged 0-59 months in Bangladesh using Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey data, 2014. Methods: To examine the extent of malnutrition among the children under five in Bangladesh, we used Height-forage, weight-for-height and weight-for-age. The association between the selected factors and nutritional status were assessed and logistic regression models were fitted for the three indicators. Results: 36.2% children are stunted, 15% are wasted and 33% are underweight. Prevalence of stunting or underweight is lowest amongst children aged 0-6 months and highest at the age of 18 to 23 months (stunted 48% and underweight 37%). Wasting is highest in 0-6months. Odd of being stunted is 30% to 50% higher in Sylhet division as compared to other divisions. Other key covariates for stunting are urban area (OR = 1.226, p-value = 0.004), no or primary education of father (OR = 1.318, p-value < 0.001), no or primary education of mother (OR = 1.22, p-value = 0.002), underweight mothers (OR = 1.76, p-value <0.001) and wealth index poorest (OR = 2.892, p-value < 0.001). Important covariates for wasting are mother's occupation as physical labor (OR = 1.208, p-value = 0.018), underweight mothers (OR = 2.145, p-value <0.001) and wealth index poorest (OR = 2.892, p-value < 0.001). For underweight main covariates are: no or primary education of father (OR = 1.182, p-value = 0.011), no or primary education of mother (OR = 1.214, p-value = 0.002), mothers in physical labor (OR = 1.289, p-value < 0.001), underweight mothers (OR = 2.625, p-value < 0.001) and wealth index poorest (OR = 2. 315, p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: In addition to the ongoing programs to improve child health, government may wish to design targeted nutrition intervention strategies to make sure that health information and health education are easily accessible for parents. The most vulnerable groups including the children from poorest socio-economic group or children in the urban area require special attention. Mothers should also be given focus while designing intervention programs.

Determinants of under-nutrition among children under five years of age in Ethiopia

“…This study found that age of the child significantly affected the child's nutritional status. This finding is consistent with findings from studies in Ethiopia and Bangladesh [23,26,32,33] which found out that risk of undernourishment increased along with increase in the age of a child. This is attributable to late introduction of supplementary food with low nutritional quality [34].…”

Determinants of undernutrition among children under-five years old in southern Ethiopia: does pregnancy intention matter? A community-based unmatched case-control study

“…Children of illiterate fathers were at more than three times higher risk of stunting compared to educated fathers. This finding is also in line with the findings of the study from Bangladesh [13] and other studies [32][33][34][35][36]. Possibly, this might be due to the fact that households with educated fathers have a greater likelihood of having a higher income, since fathers are the main source of income for the households studied.…”

“…The household wealth of the family of the subject children was associated with stunted growth in this study. This finding is in line with other findings from analysis of the Mini Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data [15], a cross sectional study conducted on prevalence and determinants malnutrition in Bangladesh [13], and another study from Sindh, Pakistan [14]. The primary influence of household wealth is on child feeding practices related to an inadequate amount of food and the nutritional content of meals, which affect the nutritional status of children.…”

“…Although stunting often begins in utero, several research studies have identified socio-demographic, socioeconomic [11][12][13][14][15][16], environmental [17,18], dietary [12,18,19], parasitic infection and other related illness [11,20], and psychological [19] correlations with stunting. One of the psychological factors that might be associated with children stunting is unintended pregnancy, either unwanted (the parent did not desire any or any more children) or mistimed (the pregnancy occurred earlier than desired) [16,21,22].…”

Consumption of a high‐fat diet does not potentiate the deleterious effects on lipid and protein levels and body development in rats subjected to maternal protein restriction

“…The study of undernutrition is important because it is a problem that continues to affect thousands of people worldwide . There is a specific period in which the occurrence of undernutrition leads to more severe damage, known as the critical period of development.…”