Stunting Was Associated with Reported Morbidity, Parental Education and Socioeconomic Status in 0.5-12-Year-Old Indonesian Children.

Moesijanti Y E Soekatri,Sandjaja Sandjaja,Ahmad Syauqy

doi:10.3390/ijerph17176204

Abstract

Stunting is highly prevalent in Indonesian children. The objective of this study was to identify the associations of stunting with morbidity, parental education and socioeconomic status (SES) in Indonesian children. The study population was part of the South East Asian Nutrition Surveys (SEANUTS). A total of 2236 Indonesian children aged 0.5 to 12 years, who had participated in the SEANUTS, were included in this study. Stunting was defined as height for age Z-score (HAZ) ≤ −2 using WHO criteria and severe stunting as HAZ ≤ −3. Information on morbidity, parental education and family SES were collected by structured questionnaires. ANOVA was used for evaluating differences across groups, with or without correction for confounders. The results showed that the overall prevalence of stunting was 31.4%. HAZ in stunted children was associated with disease incidence, including frequency, parental education and family income. There were no significant differences in HAZ values in stunted children with one or more bouts of infectious, digestive tract or respiratory tract illnesses compared to stunted children with no reported illness. The prevalence of stunting in Indonesian children was high and was strongly associated with child morbidity, parental education and SES.

Highlights

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report for Indonesia 2010 indicates that the prevalence of stunting in Indonesia is still high—between 30 and 40% [1]
The results showed an overall prevalence of stunting of 31.4% with slight, but significant differences between boys and girls
Note the very much lower prevalence of stunting in the youngest age group compared to the older age groups and overall between urban and rural (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report for Indonesia 2010 indicates that the prevalence of stunting in Indonesia is still high—between 30 and 40% [1]. Comparing stunting prevalence between the cross-sectional Indonesian basic health studies (Riskesdas) in 2018 (30.8%) [2] and 2013 (37.2%) [3] shows comparable values in stunting prevalence. The Indonesian basic health studies (Riskesdas) found a decreasing trend of stunting prevalence from 1992 to 2013—from 45.9% to 37.2% [2,4]. In Indonesia, the prevalence of stunting is much higher compared to neighboring countries such as Malaysia (8.4%) [5], Thailand (4.1 to 8.4%) [6] and Vietnam (14 to 15%) [7]. In the Philippines—one of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries—the prevalence of stunting is about

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion