%0 Journal Article
%T Maternal Characteristics Determine Stunting in Children of Less than Five Years of Age Results from a National Probabilistic Survey
%A Teresa Shamah-Levy
%A Lucia Cuevas Nasu
%A Hortensia Moreno-Macias
%A Eric Monterrubio-Flores and Marco Antonio Avila-Arcos
%J Clinical Medicine Insights: Pediatrics
%D 2012
%I 
%X Background:  Maternal nutrition and some variables are the main determining factors of birthweight and delayed intrauterine growth of children. Objective: To explore the association between the mothers¡¯ biological and sociodemographic characteristics, and the anthropometry status in children under five years of age. Design:  The population consisted of a sub-sample of 1,047 mother-and-child selected pairs from the probabilistic National Nutrition Survey, carried out in Mexico. Mother-and-child pairs included mothers aged 12 to 49 years, with children under five years of age. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, obstetric history, 24-hour recall dietary intake, and the women and children¡¯s anthropometry were collected. The association between maternal characteristics and children¡¯s anthropometry status was assessed using multiple logistic regression models. Result:  Nearly 16.7% of the children <5y of age were stunted (13.5%  ¡Ü2y and 18.8% >2y). The height/age of the children was severely affected by maternal height and birth order. In addition, the interaction between socioeconomic level and maternal schooling had a marginal effect (p =  0.09) in the ¡Ü2y group. On the other hand, whether the family received social services and the interaction between maternal height and a dichotomy urbanism variable were significant ( p = 0.05) and (p  <0.01) respectively in >2y group. Conclusion:  Some biological and socioeconomic characteristics among mothers have a negative effect on their children¡¯s attained size, especially in the period between 2 and 5 years of age.
%U http://www.la-press.com/maternal-characteristics-determine-stunting-in-children-of-less-t-article-a1059