Peer-reviewed article
The co‐occurrence of anaemia and stunting in young children
Lucas Gosdin, Reynaldo Martorell, Rosario M. Bartolini, Rukshan Mehta, Sridhar Srikantiah et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5The study looked at how often anaemia and stunting occur together in young children in Bihar, India (5,664 children aged 6–18 months) and Lambayeque, Peru (688 children aged 6–36 months). In both places, the share of children with both conditions was about what would be expected by chance. Some risk factors, such as age and dietary diversity, were linked to one or both conditions, but the two problems were more independent than often assumed. The authors suggest that programmes targeting children based on one condition may miss children with the other.
Key points
- Co-occurrence of anaemia and stunting was 21.5% in India and 30.4% in Peru.
- These were similar to the frequencies expected by chance: 21.3% (p = .97) and 31.5% (p = .85).
- In Peru, anaemia was associated with age and consumption of treated water; stunting with age, sex, dietary diversity, hand washing, language spoken and wealth.
- In India, anaemia was associated with age, sex, caste, dietary diversity and household hunger; stunting with age, sex, caste, wealth and maternal illiteracy.
- Interventions that target children based on one condition may miss children with the other form of malnutrition.
Limitations
The abstract describes associations in two specific populations and cannot show causes or whether the findings apply to other settings or age groups. It does not give details of how the data were collected or of the size of the associations.
Abstract
AbstractAnaemia and stunting are prevalent nutritional problems among children of low‐income countries that have profound effects on development, morbidity, and mortality. Many use a single conceptual framework to identify the basic determinants of these and other forms of malnutrition. One would expect that problems with matching underlying determinants should co‐occur in affected individuals to a greater degree than by chance. In 2 populations of children—ages 6–18 months in Bihar, India, (n = 5,664) and 6–36 months in Lambayeque, Peru (n = 688)—we measured the frequency of the co‐occurrence of anaemia and stunting. We compared this value with the value expected by chance, the product of the prevalence of anaemia and stunting, using a chi‐square test. We also built logistic regression models for each condition. The frequency of co‐occurrence in the Indian population was 21.5%, and in the Peruvian population, it was 30.4%, which are similar to frequencies expected by chance, 21.3% (p = .97) and 31.5% (p = .85). In Peru, anaemia was associated with age and consumption of treated water. Stunting was associated with age, sex, dietary diversity, hand washing, language spoken, and wealth. In India, anaemia was associated with age, sex, caste, dietary diversity, and household hunger. Stunting was associated with age, sex, caste, wealth, and maternal illiteracy. Despite some basic shared factors, anaemia and stunting are more independent than commonly assumed. Interventions that target children based on 1 condition may miss children with the other form of malnutrition.