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Updated: Oct 19, 2026

Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil
Published on: July 29, 2020
[Stunting in Brazilian children: relationship with social-environmental conditions and maternal nutritional status]
1Centro de Saúde Escola Germano Sinval Farias, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões 1480, Rio de Janeiro, Rj 21041-210 Brasil. crisvan@ensp.fiocruz.br
Abstract:
The relationship between stunting in Brazilian children with their mother's nutritional status and their social-environmental situation was assessed in a probabilistic sample of the Brazilian population in 1989. Data from 12644 mother-son pairs were analyzed. Maternal nutritional status was classified based on the body mass index and stunting was identified in children with stature or length for age Z < or = -2 of the American growth reference curve (NCHS). Stunting was observed in 14.4% of the children (15.9% of boys and 12.9% of girls) There was an inverse relationship between the level of stunting and maternal education, income and house living conditions. Children of illiterate mothers showed more stunting (OR = 17.2) than children whose mothers had had at least 9 years of formal education. Stunting was more frequently observed in children whose mothers were underweight (OR = 2.5), and who were from the first quartile of family income in comparison to the fourth quartile (OR = 11.0) and lived in the poorest living conditions (OR = 7.6). These results suggest a positive association between stunted children and underweight mothers.
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