Behavioral responsiveness and anthropometric measures of nutritional status in rural Ethiopian infants

Abstract

Infants with nutritional deficiencies may exhibit aberrant responsiveness to their environments. This study examined relationships among anthropometrics and behavioral responsiveness in 96 infants in rural Ethiopia (mean age 9.5 mo). Weights and lengths of infants were converted to z‐scores using WHO software. Behavioral measures included activity level, interest, and emotional responses. Activity level proved to be most sensitive to variation in anthropometric measures and several sex differences were apparent, including males being shorter than females (p=.014). Males showed a significant correlation between length and the latency to move when placed in a supine or prone position (r= −.31; p=.05). Only about half of the infants were able to turn themselves over when placed on the ground. Males who did so showed a positive correlation between length for age z‐score and latency to turn over (r= +.44; p=.02); females showed a negative correlation (r= −.39; p=.06), though females were significantly faster. This suggests that nutritional deficiencies may affect responsiveness differently across genders. (Supported by NIH Grant R21 TW06729 (Fogarty International Center) & the Office of Dietary Supplements).