Stunting among under 5-year-olds in Nepal: trends and risk factors.
File(s)
Author(s)
Budhathoki, Shyam Sundar
Bhandari, Amit
Gurung, Rejina
Gurung, Abhishek
Kc, Ashish
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The nutritional status in the first 5 years of life has lifelong and inter-generational impacts on individual's potential and development. This study described the trend of stunting and its risk factors in children under 5 years of age between 2001 and 2016 in Nepal. METHODS: The study used datasets from the 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 Nepal Demographic Health Surveys to describe the trend of stunting in under 5-year children. Multiple logistic regression analysis was carried out to assess the risk factors for stunting at the time of the four surveys. RESULTS: The nutritional status of under 5-year children improved between 2001 and 2016. Babies born into poorer families had a higher risk of stunting than those born into wealthier families (AOR 1.51, CI 95% 1.23-1.87). Families residing in hill districts had less risk of stunting than those in the Terai plains (AOR 0.75, CI 95% 0.61-0.94). Babies born to uneducated women had a higher risk of stunting than those born to educated women (AOR 1.57, CI 95% 1.28-1.92). DISCUSSION: Stunting among under-5-year children decreased in the years spanning 2001-2016. This study demonstrated multiple factors that can be addressed to decrease the risk of stunting, which has important implications for neurodevelopment later in life. We add literature on risk factors for stunting in under-5-year children.
Date Issued
2020-02
Date Acceptance
2019-09-27
Citation
Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2020, 24 (Suppl 1), pp.39-47
ISSN
1092-7875
Publisher
Springer (part of Springer Nature)
Start Page
39
End Page
47
Journal / Book Title
Maternal and Child Health Journal
Volume
24
Issue
Suppl 1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31776750
PII: 10.1007/s10995-019-02817-1
Subjects
Early childhood development
Multi-dimensional risk factors
Nepal
Stunting
Sustainable development goals
Undernutrition
Child Nutrition Disorders
Child, Preschool
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Goals
Growth Disorders
Health Surveys
Humans
Infant
Male
Malnutrition
Nepal
Risk Factors
Socioeconomic Factors
Surveys and Questionnaires
Sustainable Development
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2019-11-27