Mitigating the Impact of Intergenerational Risk Factors on Stunting

Insights From Seven of the Most Food Insecure Districts in South Africa

Dados Bibliográficos

ID15536268
AutoresKate Rich (0000-0002-1936-4723, University of the Witwatersrand, autor correspondente), Lambert Engelbrecht (0000-0001-6549-7183), Liezel Engelbrecht (The DG Murray Trust Cape Town South Africa), Gabrielle Wills (0000-0001-8040-474X, Stellenbosch University), Edzani Mphaphuli (The DG Murray Trust Cape Town South Africa)
Ano2024
Volume21
Fascículo2
Páginase13765-e13765
Data de publicação2024-11-24
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoMaternal and Child Nutrition (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1740-8695 • E-ISSN: 1740-8709
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/mcn.13765
PMID39582144
OpenAlexW4404666461
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas62

A large body of research investigates the determinants of stunting in young children, but few studies have considered which factors are the most important predictors of stunting. We examined the relative importance of predictors of height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) and stunting among children under 5 years of age in seven of the most food-insecure districts in South Africa using data from the Grow Great Community Stunting Survey of 2022. We used dominance analysis and variable importance measures from conditional random forest models to assess the relative importance of predictors. We found that intergenerational and socioeconomic factors-specifically maternal height (HAZ: Coef. 0.02, 95% CI 0.01-0.03; stunting: OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.94-0.98), birth weight (HAZ: Coef. 0.3, 95% CI 0.16-0.43; stunting: OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.35-0.72) and asset-based measures of socioeconomic status (HAZ: Coef. 0.17, 95% CI 0.10-0.24; stunting: OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.67-0.89)-were the most important predictors of HAZ and stunting in these districts. We explored whether any other factors moderated (weakened) the relationship between these intergenerational factors and child height using conditional inference trees and moderation analysis. We found that being on track for vitamin A and deworming, adequate sanitation, a diverse diet and good maternal mental health moderated the effect of birth weight or mother's height. Though impacts are likely to be small relative to the impact of intergenerational risk factors, these moderating factors may provide promising avenues for helping to mitigate the intergenerational transmission of stunting risk in South Africa

Environmental health · Population · Socioeconomic status · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Demography · Energy and Environment Impacts · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Medicine