Document Detail


Excluding infants under 6 months of age from surveys: impact on prevalence of pre-school undernutrition.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  17212846     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVE: Infants aged 0-5 months are not systematically included in assessments of child nutritional status and are generally excluded from surveys conducted in emergencies. We estimated the impact of excluding 0-5-month-old infants on the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight among children under 5 years (U5) and under 3 years (U3) of age. DESIGN: Comparison of the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight in U5 and U3 with or without inclusion of the age group 0-5 months. SETTING: Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys from 76 developing countries and countries in transition. SUBJECTS: Children under 3 or under 5 years of age included in the surveys. Results Excluding 0-5-month-old infants resulted in an overestimation of the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight in U5 of 3.0, 0.3 and 2.6 percentage points, respectively, and of 4.8, 1.0 and 5.2 percentage points, respectively, in U3. The overestimation for wasting was negligible. The regions showing the highest overestimations for stunting and underweight were Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Overall, countries with high prevalences of stunting and underweight showed especially large overestimations. The prevalence of underweight in infants aged 0-5 months was correlated with the prevalence of low maternal body mass index. CONCLUSION: All surveys, even in situations of nutrition emergency, should include 0-5-month-old infants. Strictly comparable age ranges are essential in nutrition surveys for monitoring trends and evaluating programme impact. Greater awareness of prenatal and early child undernutrition is needed among policy-makers.
Authors:
C Lopriore; M-C Dop; A Solal-Céligny; G Lagnado
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Public health nutrition     Volume:  10     ISSN:  1368-9800     ISO Abbreviation:  Public Health Nutr     Publication Date:  2007 Jan 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2007-01-10     Completed Date:  2007-03-13     Revised Date:  2009-11-03    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9808463     Medline TA:  Public Health Nutr     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  79-87     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Nutrition Planning, Assessment and Evaluation Service, Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, I-00100 Rome, Italy.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Age Factors
Body Height / physiology
Body Weight / physiology
Child Nutrition Disorders / diagnosis,  epidemiology*,  prevention & control
Child, Preschool
Cluster Analysis
Developing Countries*
Female
Geography
Growth Disorders / diagnosis,  epidemiology*,  prevention & control
Health Surveys*
Humans
Infant
Infant Nutrition Disorders / diagnosis,  epidemiology*,  prevention & control
Infant, Newborn
Male
Nutritional Status
Population Surveillance
Prevalence
Risk Factors

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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