Linear Growth and Child Development in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Malawi

Abstract

We aimed to produce quantitative estimates of the associations between 4 domains of child development and linear growth during 3 periods: before birth, early infancy, and later infancy. We also aimed to determine whether several factors attenuated these associations. METHODS:In 3700 children in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Malawi, growth was measured several times from birth to age 18 months. At 18 months, language, motor, socioemotional, and executive function development were assessed. In Burkina Faso (n = 1111), personalsocial development was assessed rather than the latter 2 domains. RESULTS:Linear growth was significantly associated with language, motor, and personalsocial development but not socioemotional development or executive function. For language, the pooled adjusted estimate of the association with length-for-age z score (LAZ) at 6 months was 0.13 ± 0.02 SD, and with ΔLAZ from 6 to 18 months it was 0.11 ± 0.03 SD. For motor, these estimates were 0.16 ± 0.02 SD and 0.22 ± 0.03 SD, respectively. In 1412 children measured at birth, estimates of the association with LAZ at birth were similar (0.07-0.16 SD for language and 0.09-0.18 SD for motor development). These associations were weaker or absent in certain subsets of children with high levels of developmental stimulation or mothers who received nutritional supplementation. CONCLUSIONS:Growth faltering during any period from before birth to 18 months is associated with poor development of language and motor skills. Interventions to provide developmental stimulation or maternal supplementation may protect children who are faltering in growth from poor language and motor development.

Predictors and pathways of language and motor development in four prospective cohorts of young children in Ghana, Malawi, and Burkina Faso

“…However, we would expect that any bias introduced by the supplementation would tend to decrease rather than increase the magnitude of the associations and therefore our general conclusions regarding consistent significant predictors would not change. For example, in Malawi and Ghana, we found that maternal LNS attenuated the association of linear growth with motor and language scores (Prado, Abbeddou, Adu‐Afarwuah et al., ).…”

Associations between individual variations in visual attention at 9 months and behavioral competencies at 18 months in rural Malawi

“…grows rapidly [43]. In a previous study in the same area, child's length at 6 months of age was associated with language and motor scores at 18 months of age [44].…”

Child development in rural Ghana: Associations between cognitive/language milestones and indicators of nutrition and stimulation of children under two years of age

“…Prado and colleagues have previously used a language inventory in Ghana. 24 Given the importance of cognition as part of mental development, we added cognitive items and some language items to ones already included in other measures. 4,13 As expected, older, taller children and children with higher scores on a stimulation measure attained higher milestone scores.…”