Maternal risk factors for underweight among children under-five in a resource limited setting: A community based case control study

Abstract

Previous studies conducted in Nepal have not identified the potential maternal risk for underweight among children under-five years of age in resource-poor settings. Therefore, to identify these risk factors for being underweight among children under-five years old, a community-based case-control study was conducted in a rural village in the Chitwan District in Nepal. Cases were defined as children who were diagnosed as underweight based on low weight per age, whereas controls were the children with normal weight for their age. Mothers of 93 cases and 186 controls were invited for an interview to collect the data. More than half of underweight children were female (51.6%) and nearly one third of them (31.2%) were aged 13-24 months. Nearly, 30% of the cases belonged to families in the lowest wealth quintile and 82% of cases were from food insecure families. Logistic regression analysis showed that children of mothers who were illiterate had 1.48 times the odds of being underweight compared to whose mothers were not illiterate (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.53-3.07)). Children whose mother had not completed their postnatal care (PNC) were 3.16 more times likely to be underweight compared to children of mothers who completed PNC (95% CI: 1.24-8.03). The children who received care from other family members besides their mothers were 6.05 times more likely to be underweight (95% CI: 1.44-25.42); the children having mothers who had no income at all had 5.13 times the odds of being underweight (95% CI: 1.27-20.71) and children with diarrhea episodes within one month were 2.09 times more likely to be underweight (95% CI:1.02-4.31) compared to those children without any diarrhea episodes within one month. Women should be encouraged to take care of their children themselves, seek PNC services and take precautions to protect their children from diarrhea. Also, enabling factors such as education and improved income for women can help to reduce malnutrition among children.

Evaluation of anthropometric indices and their relationship with maternal nutritional literacy and selected socio-economic and demographic variables among children under 5 years old

“…Also, the prevalence of underweight and wasting in males was higher than that of girls, which is in line with the study conducted by Ahmadi et al (5). Moreover, among children with a history of acute respiratory infection and diarrhea during the past 2 weeks, the prevalence of underweight and wasting was significantly higher than among children without a history of these diseases, this result is not far from expectation and is in line with the results of other studies [5,25].…”

“…This research’s findings indicated that the prevalence of stunting among children whose family income was lower than the adequate level of life is higher than children whose family income was sufficient, this result was not far from expectation and is in line with the results of many studies in this field [ 22 , 25 ]. Even in some research, it was noted that family income is a stronger factor in identifying children’s nutritional status than mothers’ nutritional knowledge [ 22 ].…”

“…Furthermore, according to this research's findings, the mother's gestational weight gain less than 7 and over 16 kg is a risk factor for underweight in children under 5 years of age, which it is required to be regarded and in preconception and prenatal education, mothers must be encouraged to have a normal weight gain and proportionate to their BMI during their pregnancy. This research's findings indicated that the prevalence of stunting among children whose family income was lower than the adequate level of life is higher than children whose family income was sufficient, this result was not far from expectation and is in line with the results of many studies in this field [22,25]. Even in some research, it was noted that family income is a stronger factor in identifying children's nutritional status than mothers' nutritional knowledge [22].…”

Drivers and distribution of the household-level double burden of malnutrition in Bangladesh: analysis of mother–child dyads from a national household survey

“…A previous study observed that the prevalence of underweight and overweight women aged 15-49 years in Bangladesh was 22•4 % and 14•1 %, respectively. These conditions are crucial for determining the overall health condition of a child, as maternal health status plays a significant role in child health (39) . Our study also demonstrated that maternal education was a significant factor for controlling the DBM.…”