Peer-reviewed article
The Longitudinal Impact of Fetal Malnutrition on the Anthropometric Growth of Young Children in Leyte, the Philippines.
Mackenzie E Bruzzio, Jennifer Friedman, Christopher Barry, Emily McDonald, Blanca Jarilla et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study followed 246 infants in the Philippines from birth to 24 months to understand how fetal malnutrition affects children's growth. Fetal malnutrition was identified at birth using a simple assessment tool (CANSCORE) that measures soft tissue wasting. Infants identified with fetal malnutrition at birth remained smaller and showed poorer growth across weight, length, and nutritional status measures through age 24 months. The findings suggest that identifying malnourished newborns early could help target nutrition support to vulnerable children.
Key points
- 8 of 246 infants (3%) were classified with fetal malnutrition at birth using the CANSCORE tool
- Newborns with fetal malnutrition showed significantly reduced weight-for-age, length-for-age, and weight-for-length z-scores at nearly all measurement points through 24 months
- CANSCORE is a user-friendly tool suitable for assessing fetal malnutrition in resource-limited settings
- Fetal malnutrition was associated with continued risk for undernutrition and growth stunting until age 24 months
- Early identification of fetal malnutrition at birth could enable targeted early nutrition interventions for high-risk infants
Limitations
The study had limited statistical power due to the small number of infants with fetal malnutrition (only 8 cases). The findings are specific to one region of the Philippines and may not generalise to other populations.
Abstract
Poor intrauterine growth has long-term implications for child growth and nutritional status. Fetal malnutrition (FM) is a type of poor intrauterine growth defined by the presence of soft tissue wasting at birth and is identified using the Clinical Assessment of Nutritional Status Score (CANSCORE) tool, independent of gestational age. There is limited evidence evaluating FM as a predictor of longitudinal growth and nutritional status in young children. In this longitudinal birth cohort in Leyte, the Philippines, mother-infant dyads were enroled, and infants were followed for 24 months after delivery. Infants were evaluated using CANSCORE within 48 h of birth by a trained midwife, and FM was defined as CANSCORE < 25. Weight and length were measured at birth, 1-, 6-, 12-, 18- and 24-month visits. Weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age (LAZ) and weight-for-length (WLZ) z scores were determined using WHO Anthro. Associations between FM and anthropometric z scores were assessed using multivariable linear regression, adjusting for maternal body mass index (BMI), family socioeconomic status (SES) and child's sex. Among N = 246 infants included for analysis, 8 (3%) were classified with FM at birth. Despite limited power, FM was significantly associated with reduced WAZ, LAZ and WLZ at nearly all timepoints in the fully adjusted models. CANSCORE is a user-friendly tool for assessing FM in areas with limited equipment and predicted that newborns with FM were at continued risk for undernutrition and growth stunting until age 24 months. Identification of FM at birth provides opportunities for targeted early nutrition interventions for high-risk infants.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Early identification of fetal malnutrition at birth using the CANSCORE tool to enable targeted nutrition interventions
- Population
- 246 infants enrolled in a birth cohort in Leyte, Philippines; 8 infants (3%) identified with fetal malnutrition
Key finding
Fetal malnutrition was significantly associated with reduced weight-for-age z-scores at nearly all timepoints through 24 months