Multilevel Analysis Association of Soil Transmitted Helminths and Stunting in Children Aged 6-12 Years Old in Pinrang District, South Sulawesi

Abstract

Background: Stunting in children is often associated with infectious diseases, one of which is Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH). Worms in child­ren affect the intake, digestion, absorption and metabolism of food which has an impact on reducing the supply of nutrients to the body. This study aimed to determine the relationship between STH and the incidence of stunting in children aged 6-12 years in Pinrang, South Sulawesi. Subjects and Method: This was an analytic observational with cross sectional design. The study was conducted in Pinrang Regency, South Sulawesi, from January to March 2020. A sam­ple of 200 children aged 6-12 years was selected by random sampling. The dependent variable was stunting. The independent variables were worm disease, maternal education, family income, number of family members, maternal body height, low birth weight, length of birth, exclusive breastfeeding, and complementary feed­ing. The data were collected by question­naire and analyzed by a multiple multilevel logistic regression run on STATA13. Results: The risk of stunting increased with worms (b= 2.11; 95% CI= 1.11 to 3.10; p <0.001), low maternal education (b= 1.08; 95% CI= 0.13 to 2.03; p= 0.025), low income (b= 1.03; 95% CI= 0.05 to 2.02; p= 0.039), number of family (b= 2.13; 95% CI= 1.13 to 3.13; p< 0.001), short maternal height (b= 1.03; 95% CI= 0.10 to 1.96; p= 0.030), LBW (b= 1.45; 95% CI= 0.38 to 2.51; p= 0.007), short birth length (b= 1.91; 95% CI= 0.95 to 2.87; p< 0.001), and inappropriate complementary feed­ing (b= 1.11; 95% CI= 0.21 to 2.11; p= 0.029). The risk of stunting decreased with exclusive breastfeeding (b= 0.96; 95% CI= 0.23 to 1.91; p= 0.045). Village had negligible contextual effect on the stunting with ICC= 8.2%. Conclusion: The risk of stunting increases with worms, low maternal education, low income, number of family, short maternal height, LBW, short birth length, and inappro­priate complementary feed­ing. The risk of stun­ting decreases with exclusive breastfeed­ing. Village has negligible contextual effect on the stunting. Keyword s : stunting, soil transmitted helminths Correspondence: Putri Andini Muslimah. Masters Program in Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl. Ir. Sutami 36A, Surakarta 57126, Central Java. Email: ptriandn15@gmail.com. Mobile: +6285­331663133. Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health (2020), 05(03): 372-383 https://doi.org/10.26911/jepublichealth.2020.05.03.11.