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Socioeconomic determinants of growth in a longitudinal study in Nepal

Devakumar, D; Kular, D; Shrestha, BP; Grijalva-Eternod, C; Daniel, RM; Saville, NM; Manandhar, DS; ... Wells, JCK; + view all (2017) Socioeconomic determinants of growth in a longitudinal study in Nepal. Maternal & Child Nutrition , 14 (1) , Article e12462. 10.1111/mcn.12462. Green open access

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Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with childhood anthropometry, but little is known about how it is associated with tissue growth and body composition. To investigate this, we looked at components of SES at birth with growth in early and mid-childhood, and body composition in a longitudinal study in Nepal. The exposure variables (material assets, land ownership, and maternal education) were quantified from questionnaire data before birth. Anthropometry data at birth, 2.5 and 8.5 years, were normalized using WHO reference ranges and conditional growth calculated. Associations with child growth and body composition were explored using multiple regression analysis. Complete anthropometry data were available for 793 children. There was a positive association between SES and height-for-age and weight-for-age, and a reduction in odds of stunting and underweight for each increase in rank of SES variable. Associations tended to be significant when moving from the lower to the upper asset score, from none to secondary education, and no land to >30 dhur (~500 m(2) ). The strongest associations were for maternal secondary education, showing an increase of 0.6-0.7 z scores in height-for-age and weight-for-age at 2.5 and 8.5 years and 0.3 kg/m(2) in fat and lean mass compared to no education. There was a positive association with conditional growth in the highest asset score group and secondary maternal education, and generally no association with land ownership. Our results show that SES at birth is important for the growth of children, with a greater association with fat mass. The greatest influence was maternal secondary education.

Type: Article
Title: Socioeconomic determinants of growth in a longitudinal study in Nepal
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/mcn.12462
Publisher version: http://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12462
Language: English
Additional information: © 2017 The Authors Maternal & Child Nutrition Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: Asset index, body composition, child growth, land ownership, maternal education, socioeconomic factors
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1554722
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